This essay explores the wartime fiction and drama of Xu Xu （徐訏, 1908-80）, one of China＇s most widely read authors of the Republican-period （1912-49）. By placing Xu Xu＇s popular spy fiction into the context of ...This essay explores the wartime fiction and drama of Xu Xu （徐訏, 1908-80）, one of China＇s most widely read authors of the Republican-period （1912-49）. By placing Xu Xu＇s popular spy fiction into the context of literary production during the war years, the essay illustrates that Xu Xu＇s oeuvre protested against an ideology of moral collectivism in which the individual had to submit self to a higher political authority that professed to represent the will of the nation. Through a literary aesthetic that largely defied the demands for a literature of resistance that subjugated the individual self to the national collective, Xu＇s ostensibly autobiographical I-novels brought comfort to urban readers whose personal salvation was rarely addressed in official wartime narratives depicting the nation in peril and calling for collective sacrifice. At the same time, Xu＇s confident cosmopolitan heroes satisfied urban readers＇ desire for political agency in the raging international conflict. Furthermore, this paper explores Xu Xu＇s wartime drama through which Xu attempted to piece together a quasi-existentialist vision of the individual and human experience that was revealed only under the extreme condition of war.展开更多
Between 1941 and 1945, the Nationalist government supervised a program that trained more than 3,300 male college students and recent graduates to serve as interpreters for the US military in the China-Burma-India （CB...Between 1941 and 1945, the Nationalist government supervised a program that trained more than 3,300 male college students and recent graduates to serve as interpreters for the US military in the China-Burma-India （CB1） Theater. These interpreters made the Sino-US alliance a reality by enabling American servicemen to communicate with other Chinese. But despite the program＇s operational success, interpreters suffered from intractable morale problems. Interpreters began their service with lofty expectations. Senior officials and intellectuals encouraged them to see themselves as central figures in China＇s struggle for nafonal rejuvenation. They would uplift the country by convincing American servicemen to see Chinese as equals and by introducing American technology, traits, and habits to the Chinese Army. It all sounded glorious to cadets undergoing training, but actual interpreter service proved bitterly disappointing to most young men. They found their monotonous duties unworthy of their position The Nationalist government, for its part, lacked the capacity to keep them clothed, paid, and fed. Their own compatriots--soldiers and civilians alike--regarded them with suspicion. Most frustrating of all, American soldiers refused to treat them as equals. By examining interpreter morale problems in China fronl 1941 to 1945, this article enriches our understanding of wartime interpreting, China in a global World War II, and sources of friction in the Sino-US alliance展开更多
文摘This essay explores the wartime fiction and drama of Xu Xu （徐訏, 1908-80）, one of China＇s most widely read authors of the Republican-period （1912-49）. By placing Xu Xu＇s popular spy fiction into the context of literary production during the war years, the essay illustrates that Xu Xu＇s oeuvre protested against an ideology of moral collectivism in which the individual had to submit self to a higher political authority that professed to represent the will of the nation. Through a literary aesthetic that largely defied the demands for a literature of resistance that subjugated the individual self to the national collective, Xu＇s ostensibly autobiographical I-novels brought comfort to urban readers whose personal salvation was rarely addressed in official wartime narratives depicting the nation in peril and calling for collective sacrifice. At the same time, Xu＇s confident cosmopolitan heroes satisfied urban readers＇ desire for political agency in the raging international conflict. Furthermore, this paper explores Xu Xu＇s wartime drama through which Xu attempted to piece together a quasi-existentialist vision of the individual and human experience that was revealed only under the extreme condition of war.
文摘Between 1941 and 1945, the Nationalist government supervised a program that trained more than 3,300 male college students and recent graduates to serve as interpreters for the US military in the China-Burma-India （CB1） Theater. These interpreters made the Sino-US alliance a reality by enabling American servicemen to communicate with other Chinese. But despite the program＇s operational success, interpreters suffered from intractable morale problems. Interpreters began their service with lofty expectations. Senior officials and intellectuals encouraged them to see themselves as central figures in China＇s struggle for nafonal rejuvenation. They would uplift the country by convincing American servicemen to see Chinese as equals and by introducing American technology, traits, and habits to the Chinese Army. It all sounded glorious to cadets undergoing training, but actual interpreter service proved bitterly disappointing to most young men. They found their monotonous duties unworthy of their position The Nationalist government, for its part, lacked the capacity to keep them clothed, paid, and fed. Their own compatriots--soldiers and civilians alike--regarded them with suspicion. Most frustrating of all, American soldiers refused to treat them as equals. By examining interpreter morale problems in China fronl 1941 to 1945, this article enriches our understanding of wartime interpreting, China in a global World War II, and sources of friction in the Sino-US alliance
