Expressionism and its deformation in contemporary Chinese theatre

Yuwen Hsiung, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to examine how Expressionism as a discursive locus is incorporated and even transformed during a critical phase in the modernization of Chinese drama. While various Western dramatic techniques made rapid appearance onto the Chinese stage, Expressionism had been intentionally overlooked ever since Hong Shen's Yama Zhao and Cao Yu's The Wilderness were produced in the 1920s and 1930s. It is by no means incidental that Expressionism is re-introduced with such high enthusiasm when Chinese theatre reclaimed her agency during the post-Maoist era. Expressionism emphasizes subjectivity in opposition to realistic convention, and so Chinese dramatists turn to Expressionism when they attempt to break away from the hegemony of Stanislavsky's Realism. Furthermore, the appropriation of Expressionism becomes a contributing force for modern and contemporary Chinese dramatists to resort back to the traditional operatic theatre to discover their own voices and so develop a peculiarly Chinese Expressionism. Chapters two and three focus on Gao Xingjian and Lin Zhaohua, who, as a team, initiate the beginning of expressionist experiments. Chapters four and five on Huang Zuolin and Xu Xiaozhong represent the clash between expressionist and Chinese aesthetics that leads to the rise of Chinese Expressionism in the late 1980s. The final two chapters explore younger directors, Meng Jinghui and Lai Sheng-chuan, who bring Chinese Expressionism to another phase by rethinking the idea of subjectivity in an age of transculturalism in present-day Chinese theatre.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Adler, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Comparative literature|Asian literature|Theater

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