Allegorizing the existential crisis in modern China: Qian Zhongshu’s philosophical novel “Fortress Besieged”

Rok, strany: 2018, 80 - 90

Beginning with an overview of the interconnection between literature and philosophy in modern Chinese literature, this paper analyses the novel Fortress Besieged (1947) written by Qian Zhongshu, a polyglot Chinese scholar of East-West comparative literature and philosophy. It compares the novel’s overarching allegory, i. e. a fortress besieged, in juxtaposition with the philosophical allegories about the mutability and limitations of human life. It concludes with a reflection on the seminal influence of this novel in contemporary Chinese society where “fortress besieged” has become an everyday word referring to one’s existential crisis.

ISO 690:

Huang, Y. 2018. Allegorizing the existential crisis in modern China: Qian Zhongshu’s philosophical novel “Fortress Besieged”. In World Literature Studies, vol. 10, no.2, pp. 80-90. 1337-9275.

APA:

Huang, Y. (2018). Allegorizing the existential crisis in modern China: Qian Zhongshu’s philosophical novel “Fortress Besieged”. World Literature Studies, 10(2), 80-90. 1337-9275.

Vydavateľ: ÚSvL SAV, v. v. i.