Contained in:
Book Chapter

Transnational urban encounters: existential wanderings in Xue Yiwei’s collection Shenzheners

  • Giulia Rampolla

The fictional works of the Chinese writer Xue Yiwei, who migrated to Canada in 2002, can be regarded as a byproduct of cross-border mobility and cultural displacement. This paper examines the relationship between the individual and the metropolis in four short stories from the collection Shenzheners, focusing on the impact of the writer’s transcontinental relocation on his representation of city dwellers and intercultural encounters. This research adopts an interdisciplinary framework, which merges textual analysis with the approaches of Cultural Studies and Literary Urban Studies, and places this theoretical construction within a transnational context. By investigating the multiple narrative forms Xue Yiwei uses to question stereotypical cultural boundaries and to build a bridge between Chinese and global literatures, the connection between his experience of mobility and his hybrid fictional microcosm will be explored.

  • Keywords:
  • Global Chinese literature,
  • transnational writers,
  • transculturalism in Chinese fiction,
  • Chinese urban literature,
  • Shenzhen fiction,
+ Show More

Giulia Rampolla

Rome University of International Studies, Italy - ORCID: 0009-0006-1030-4122

  1. Bădulescu, Dana. 2015. “Reading and writing the city in modernist fiction.” Journal of Romanian Literary Studies 6: 67-74.
  2. Beauregard, Guy. 2008. “Asian Canadian Studies: Unfinished Projects.” Canadian Literature 199: 6-27. DOI: 10.14288/cl.v0i199
  3. Camus, Albert. 1959. The Myth of Sisyphus and other essays. New York: Vintage.
  4. Chen, Qingfei 陈庆妃. 2014. “Kan bu jian de Shenzhen. Ping Xue Yiwei Shenzhenren xilie 看不见的深圳。评薛忆沩深圳人系列.” [Invisible Shenzhen. A review of Xue Yiwei’s Shenzheners series]. Dongwu Xueshu 东吴学术 6: 85-90.
  5. Coates, Jamie. 2017. “Key figure of mobility: the flâneur.” Social Anthropology 25: 28-41. DOI: 10.1111/1469-8676.12381
  6. Dagnino, Arianna. 2012. “Transcultural Writers and Transcultural Literature in the Age of Global Modernity.” Transnational Literature 4 (2): 1-14.
  7. Dirlik, Arif. 2003. “Global Modernity? Modernity in an age of global capitalism.” European Journal of Social Theory 6 (3): 275-92. DOI: 10.1177/13684310030063001
  8. Finch, Jason. 2021. Literary Urban Studies and How to Practice it. New York: Routledge. Kindle edition.
  9. Gandara, Lelia and M. Florencia Sartori. 2016. “Discursive heterogeneity in Chinese Literature.” Chinese Semiotic Studies 12, 4: 577-91. DOI: 10.1515/css-2016-0052
  10. GUST (Ghent Urban Studies Team). 1999. The Urban condition: Space, Community and the Self in the contemporary Metropolis. Rotterdam: 010Publishers.
  11. Gurr, Jens Martin. 2021. Charting Literary Urban Studies. New York: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003111009
  12. Hamlin, Madleine. 2016. “Geographies of mobility in Joyce’s Dubliners.” Literary Geographies 2: 128-43.
  13. Hu, Chuanji 胡传吉. 2014. “Xue Yiwei xiaoshuo. Linghun de xushi, jingshen de shenmei 薛忆沩小说:灵魂的叙事,精神的审美.” [Xue Yiwei fiction: narration of soul, aesthetics of spirit]. Dongwu Xueshu 6: 78-85.
  14. Hu, Ying. 2021. “Dialoguing with the World: Xue Yiwei and his Traveling with Marco Polo.” Chinese Literature Today 10 (2): 33-8. DOI: 10.1080/21514399.2021.1990693
  15. Huang, Haijing 黄海静. 2022. “Quanqiuhua shidai xia de yimin shuxie yu chengshi xiangxiang—yi Xue Yiwei ‘Chuzuche siji’ wei zhongxin 全球化时代下的移民书写与城市现象——以薛忆沩《出租车司机》为中心.” [Urban phenomena and urban writing in a time of globalization: taking Xue Yiwei’s The Taxi Driver as the focus]. Masterpieces Review 9: 14-8.
  16. Huang, Liqing 黄丽青. 2016. “Guocang xia de tong 裹藏下的痛.” [Hidden pain]. Yuwen Xuekan 90: 80-2.
  17. Jiang, Shaochuan 江少川. 2017. “Xinxing dushi geti shengming de xinling shi 新兴都市个体生命的心灵史.” [The spiritual history of individual life in the emerging metropolis]. Xueshu pinglun 5: 97-101.
  18. Joyce, James. (1914) 2000. Dubliners. London: Penguin.
  19. Lin, Gang, and Stephen Nashef (Translator). 2021. "The Road Not Taken: An Interview with Xue Yiwei." Chinese Literature Today 10 (2): 4-14. DOI: 10.1080/21514399.2021.1990678
  20. Lin, Peiyuan 林培源. 2022. “Yiyu jingyan yu Zhongguo shuxie. Xue Yiwei wenxue sanshi nian 异域经验与中国书写。薛忆沩文学三十年.” [Exotic experience and Chinese writing. 30 years of Xue yiwei’s literature]. Sichuan Wenxue 2: 200-8.
  21. Linder Bunzel, Birgit. 2001. “Zhongguo he qitade zainan. Xue Yiwei changpian xiaoshuo zhong de zhenyi guannian 中国和其他的灾难. 薛忆沩长篇小说中的真义观念.” [China and other catastrophes. The concept of truth in Xue Yiwei’s novels]. Today 4: 56-78.
  22. Liu, Hongxia 刘洪霞. 2018. “Taoli yizuo cheng. Yi Xue Yiwei Shenzhenren xilie wei zhongxin 逃离一座城。以薛忆沩深圳人系列为中心.” [Escaping from a city. Focusing on Xue Yiwei’s Shenzheners series]. Dongwu Xueshu 6: 59-65.
  23. Liu, Zhen. 2018. “Asian Canadian communal literary enterprise.” British Journal of Canadian Studies 31 (1): 81-103.
  24. Lu, Lu 陆璐. 2020. “Faxian xiandairen de gongtong shenfen. Cong wenxue jiaodu qianlun Xue Yiwei de dushi shuxie 发现现代人的共同身份。从文学角度浅论薛忆沩的都市书写.” [Discovering the common identity of modern people. A brief discussion about Xue Yiwei’s urban writing from a literary perspective]. Xibu Xuekan 12: 128-31.
  25. Malpas, Jeff. 2012. “Existentialism as Literature.” In The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism, 289-321. Cambridge University Press.
  26. Mullin, Katherine. 2016. “Cities in modernist literature.” Discovering Literature: 20th century (British Library Project). https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/cities-in-modernist-literature.
  27. Park, Robert. 1925 E. “The City: Suggestions for the Investigation of Human behaviour and environment.” In The City, edited by Robert E. Park, Ernest W. Burgess, Roderick S. McKenzie, 1-46. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  28. Spivak, Gayatri. 1991. “Reflections on Cultural Studies in the Post-Colonial conjuncture: an Interview.” Cultural Studies: Crossing Boundaries 3 (1): 63-78.
  29. Sun, Wanning. 2002. Leaving China. Media, Migration and Transnational Imagination. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
  30. Suzuki, Takashi. 2005. “Epiphanies in Dubliners.” Paper for James Joyce Society of Japan Conference. http//www.hmt.u-toyama.ac.jp/kenkyu/kiyo47/suzukit47.pdf.
  31. United Nations. 2019. The Story of Shenzhen. Nairobi: UN-Habitat. https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2019/05/story_of_shenzhen_combined-pages-deleted-merged_1_1.pdf.
  32. Wang, Chenchen 王晨晨. 2021. “Yixiangren, lishi jiyi, xushi migong. Xue Yiwei xiaoshuo chuangzuo lun 异乡人,历史记忆,叙事迷宫。薛忆沩小说创作论.” [Strangers, historical memories, narrative labyrinths. On Xue Yiwei’s fiction]. Huawen Wenxue 华文文学 6 (161): 68-75.
  33. Wang, Ning. 2009. “Diasporic Writing and the Reconstruction of Chinese National and Cultural Identity or Identities in a Global Postcolonial Context.” Ariel 40 (1): 107-23.
  34. Wang, Yiyan. 2016. “Fiction in Modern China: Modernity through Storytelling.” In A Companion to Modern Chinese Literature, edited by Zhang Yingjin, 195-213. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
  35. Wiegandt, Kai. 2020. “The Concept of the Transnational in Literary Studies.” In The Transnational in Literary Studies, edited by Kai Wiegandt, 1-19. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110688726-001
  36. Ye, Lantao 叶澜涛. 2019. “Youyu yu shuli. Lun Xue Yiwei de Shenzhenren xilie xiaoshuo 忧郁与疏离。论薛忆沩的深圳人系列小说.” [Melancholy and alienation. Xue Yiwei’s fictional series Shenzheners]. Journal of Hangzhou Dianzi University 15 (2): 59-65.
  37. Xue, Yiwei 薛忆沩. 2013. Chuzuche siji: Shenzhenren xilie xiaoshuo 出租车司机:深圳人系列小说. [Taxi driver: fictional series People of Shenzhen]. Huadong Shifan Daxue Chubanshe.
  38. Xue Yiwei. 2016a. “The Country Girl.” In Shenzheners, trans. Derryl Sterk, 1-24. Victoria Station: Linda Leith Publishing.
  39. Xue Yiwei. 2016b. “The Peddler.” In Shenzheners, trans. Derryl Sterk, 25-36. Victoria Station: Linda Leith Publishing.
  40. Xue Yiwei. 2016c. “The Dramatist.” In Shenzheners, trans. Derryl Sterk, 51-74. Victoria Station: Linda Leith Publishing.
  41. Xue Yiwei. 2016e. “The Taxi Driver.” In Shenzheners, trans. Derryl Sterk, 165-76. Victoria Station: Linda Leith Publishing.
  42. Zhang, Heng 张衡. 2018. “Weicheng zhong de jianmo. Shilun Xue Yiwei Shenzhenren zhong de gudu zhuti 围城中的缄默。试论薛忆沩深圳人中的孤独主题.” [Silence in a besieged city. Exploring loneliness in Xue Yiwei’s Shenzheners]. Journal of Guangzhou Open University 18 (2): 75-80.
  43. Zhao, Gaiyan 赵改燕. 2020. “Cong Chuzuche siji kan Xue Yiwei de chongxie 从出租车司机看薛忆沩的重写.” [Looking at Xue Yiwei’s rewriting through The Taxi Driver]. Masterpieces Review 12: 8-11.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2023
  • Pages: 175-194
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2023 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2023
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2023 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Transnational urban encounters: existential wanderings in Xue Yiwei’s collection Shenzheners

Authors

Giulia Rampolla

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0068-4.15

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Words and visions around/about Chinese transnational mobilities 流动

Editors

Valentina Pedone, Miriam Castorina

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

204

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0068-4

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0067-7

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0068-4

eISBN (epub)

979-12-215-0069-1

Series Title

Studi e saggi

Series ISSN

2704-6478

Series E-ISSN

2704-5919

96

Fulltext
downloads

67

Views

Export Citation

1,305

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

1,921

Book Chapters

3,161,365

Fulltext
downloads

4,104

Authors

from 845 Research Institutions

of 63 Nations

63

scientific boards

from 339 Research Institutions

of 43 Nations

1,150

Referees

from 345 Research Institutions

of 37 Nations