Scarica Dragon Seed: A Forgotten Holocaust and Cultural Identity in Pearl Buck's Novel e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Angloamericana solo su Docsity! 10° lezione 6.11 DRAGON SEED First 8 chapters (cultural appropriation, middle brow aesthetic, is it a concept that is still useful today in order to make sense of a work of art or not, how did it work and influence the construction of an American literary canon) There are critical concepts that enable us to read Buck’s books and other books published in the early 20 th century from a new perspective. we see things that are not perceived as relevant issues when the book was published and in the 1960s. identity, racism, gender: elements that are there How are western assumption taken for granted? WHITEWASHING in The Good Earth (1937) Whitewashing as an instrument of cultural appropriation is clearly detectable in the movies. white actors were employed in order to play Chinese characters, in order to guarantee the success. DRAGON SEED, 1942 (Movie by Jack Conway and Harold Bucquet) What differences did it make? What was the impact of the casting choices? EVENTS leading to WW2 in the Pacific In the first chapters Buck explains the setting of WWII. The story is told through the eyes of the characters who only know what is happening in their small town. The larger world and development of the war in China is not something they are familiar with. The information is given by relatives who live in the city and read it in newspapers, who were partly educated. They collected information in a very inconsistent delayed way. What we know about history of China and Japan described in the novel without making explicit reference to it. The crucial moment is in 1931, when Japan invaded Manchuria. Later, led to an occupation of China by the Japanese forces and the events that are described in the novel take place in Nanking, in 1937. What happens in Nanking, is now considered the forgotten holocaust of WWII. The massacre that took place in that city were long ignored by historians and one of the few accounts we find in western literature of this massacre is the one we find in Buck’s Dragon Seed. What happened in Nanking in 1937? SLIDE Slide 2nd sino-japanese war The Chinese army left the city because their leader assumed that it was too risky to remain there. It was better to retire inland. It was no longer protected by the army but the general also required that the city had to be defended and forbid the official evacuation of the citizens. All the European citizens went away but the ones who remained were left to the mercy of the enemy. When the Japanese army they were able to conquer Nanking and destroy the city. SLIDE THE FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST Japanese army executed Chinese citizens and many rapes were reported. SLIDE A VOICE AGAINST IMPERIALISM She wants to create a reaction of western people to do something for China. But this ideas was in conflict with what she was writing in her essays, highlighting the negative impact of colonialism in china. How could she argue for western intervention while she was being critical of imperialistic intention by the US and other western powers? POLITICAL CONFLICT This novel acquires a new approach. SLIDE cultural mediator and political commentators Her non-fiction was almost popular as her fiction. When it comes to tackle the contradictory issues that emerge in Dragon Seed. In this collection she describes and deals with the effect of race and gender relations as they are defined in an American culture in the international context. She argues that race and gender are the two axes of analysis that enable American citizens to understand their society. The American democratic ideal of freedom can become true and really affect the life of American citizens. SLIDE THE FASCIST WAY OF EMPIRE She was worried about the fascist way of empire in the US. she was weary of interventions of that kind in China. SLIDE NO USE IN FIGHTING THE WAR Analysis of the novel. 2ND CHAPTER: we realize that something different is happening in this novel in contrast with The Good Earth. We always have Wang Lung as a focalizer. Here the narrative technique changes. We have access to the thoughts, feelings and fears of many different characters. it is no longer as experimental as in The Good Earth. The point of view switches even in the same chapter. Lao Er: 2nd son of Ling Tan. He goes to the city. He needs to buy a book. He has found out that his wife would love above all other things is having a book to read because she learnt to read when one of her brothers were learning. She is exceptional and example of the new woman of the 1930s. she wants to be independent and leave behind the old paradigm of feminine. 2nd page of the chapter: there is a reference to how he feels. We have access to his consciousness. He searches for the perfect gift for his wife. It is important because we can read this chapter through the category of middlebrow and mass culture. Literature has an effect on society, people. The role of literature can be seen through the eyes of different character.
