THESIS
2016
Abstract
How often do we think of Chinese primitive religions, shamanism, for example, as “superstition”, an antithetical conceptual spectrum compared to “enlightenment” and “modernity”, both of which are pivotal dimensions in consideration of modern Chinese
literature since the May Fourth era? To what extent can we regard this primitiveness as a response not only to historical but also to natural contexts, generating not merely specific historical, cultural, and local experiences and memories, but also a modality of spirituality, transcendence and inner strength? Often, academic recourse to anthropology, history or
folklore studies admits and indicates the making of a specific religion as an integral entity within the definite formation. Literary studies, on the other hand, reinvest this cate...[
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How often do we think of Chinese primitive religions, shamanism, for example, as “superstition”, an antithetical conceptual spectrum compared to “enlightenment” and “modernity”, both of which are pivotal dimensions in consideration of modern Chinese
literature since the May Fourth era? To what extent can we regard this primitiveness as a response not only to historical but also to natural contexts, generating not merely specific historical, cultural, and local experiences and memories, but also a modality of spirituality, transcendence and inner strength? Often, academic recourse to anthropology, history or
folklore studies admits and indicates the making of a specific religion as an integral entity within the definite formation. Literary studies, on the other hand, reinvest this category by adding more weight to the realization of the writers’ subjectivity, which renders religious representation volatile and versatile in competing narratives. By exploring Chi Zijian’s The
Last Quarter of the Moon, the present paper recognizes this issue and examines a literary articulation of shamanism that is configured, transformed and gendered in the natural context.
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