Title

Nora in Exile: Xiao Hong’s Gender Discourse in the Left-Wing Corridor

Author

Liu Shu-qin

Genre

Article

Pages

763-796

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Xiao Hong蕭紅, Lu Xun魯迅, left-wing corridor, Northeastern Chinese writers in exile, Nora, Yang Kui楊逵

Abstract

Based on the idea of an “East Asia left-wing corridor,” this study focuses on the influence of Northeastern Chinese writers in exile on the left wing school of literature in Shanghai, the east end of the collapsing corridor, between the end of 1934 and 1937, before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It investigates: How did Lu Xun’s魯迅 (1881-1936) promotion of Xiao Jun蕭軍 (1907-1988) and Xiao Hong蕭紅 (1911-1942) turn “Northeastern Chinese writers in exile” into a cultural symbol in the “Manchukuo-Shanghai” cross-border cultural phenomenon? In addition, how did Xiao Hong interpret the image of “Nora leaving home” when she left both her feudal family in Northeast China and the colonial regime of Manchukuo? Finally, the study explores the differences of the exile discourses between Xiao Hong and other Northeastern Chinese writers in exile, observes the discourse resources she injected into the “Harbin-Shanghai” corridor, and examines the cross-cultural practice conducted by Japanese activists Wataru Kaji (1903-1982), Dan Yazaki (1906-1946), and others in the “Shanghai-Tokyo” corridor.