China and the West

William Faulkner and China : general.
2011
Tao, Jie. Review and analysis of William Faulkner studies in China over the past 60 years [ID D30363]. Abstract.
For almost half a century, scholars, editors, translators, and university professors did not pay much attention to William Faulkner, the world-famous American novelist. Faulkner was first introduced to Chinese readers by Xian dai in the1930s, which, however, did not stir up much interest. In 1950, when Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for literature, some Chinese scholars became interested . Unfortunately, political campaigns, especially the Cultural Revolution, interrupted further study of Faulkner. The neglect of Faulkner in the early years after the founding of the People's Republic of China was no surprise as translations and discussions of the former Soviet Union and East-European literature dominated the field of foreign literature studies. It was not until the late 1970s that a new wave of Faulkner scholarship was initiated. The decade of 1979-1989 witnessed Faulkner's growing popularity among Chinese readers, writers as well as scholars. Young writers like Zhao Mei, Mo Yan and Zhang Kangkang all acknowledged his influence. Focusing on The Sound and the Fury and A Rose for Emily, literary critics mainly discussed the characters and themes of his novels, and his use of stream of consciousness and other modernist techniques. The study of Faulkner in China reached its height during the1990s, accompanied by large-scale translation and readings of Faulkner's novels and Faulkner studies in the West. Critical studies on Faulkner in this period focused on introducing his life and art, but with increasing comprehensiveness and sophistication. Remarkably, there is a lasting interest in Faulkner's reflections on women and race among literary critics at home and abroad. An examination of the essays published in China in the 1990s demonstrates that Chinese scholars have engaged in a dialogue with their Western counterparts sharing in-depth views on research topics and methods. Faulkner studies in China have made rapid progress since the beginning of the new century, featured by the involvement of an increasing number of young scholars, a broadening interest in Faulkner's works besides The Sound and the Fury and A Rose for Emily, a diversification of research approaches, and a gradual increase in academic papers and books in terms of comparative criticism. On the whole, Faulkner studies began rather late in China but have developed fast since the late 1970s. Chinese scholars of Faulkner have made great achievements in spite of some overlapping and repetitive discussions around such topics as race, gender, the fictional kingdom, and the function of time. Further studies on Faulkner's later works and his use of realist techniques are therefore recommended .

1983
Tao Jie : The teahouse in Chinese villages and towns, like the courthouse square and village store in Faulkner's stories, is the center of activity where news and gossip of the living, and legends and tales of the past are swapped, passed around, and handed down in the lively oral tradition. A comparison between Faulkner's humor and that of the Chinese writers shows that they have a lot in common. Much of Faulkner's humor is in the oral tradition, based on some kind of trickery. It is intended to reveal flaws in human nature. This kind of humor can be found in Chinese folklore. Another similarity between Faulkner and some Chinese writers is that their humor grows out of a deep understanding of the locale where they were born and have lived most of their lives. The most important aspect of Faulkner's humor and that of the Chinese writers lies in that they suggest more than they ever say.

1992
Tao Jie : I believe Faulkner's appeals to many Chinese readers just because they see themselves in the fate of his characters and because Faulkner depicts so well the emotions and feelings they too share but are unable to articulate.

1982
H.R. Stoneback : Human passions, joy, love, strong characters are alien to Faulkner, as are images of fighters for the rights and dignity of man. His world is a world of dying and dissolution. I am told that such representative early Soviet views of Faulkner were shared by the Chinese into the 1960s. Because China is still in large part a rural country that Faulkner will soon have a vast audience there, that particularly because China is a rural country on the brink of modernization Faulkner will be 'very necessary' and extremely popular over the coming decades.

2007
Feng Yi : In his novels, Faulkner employs many modern avant-garde writing techniques, including the stream of consciousness, the interior monologue, juxtaposition, and multiperspective techniques, expatiatory sentences in which he often uses obscure words and suspends punctuation and paragraphing, and ambiguous story lines, all of which have become major objects of Chinese critical analysis. Chinese critics utilize different perspectives to explore Faulkner's use of language and narrative. Some critics employ Freudian psychology to analyze his stream of consciousness writing ; some employ aesthetics and modern painting theory to demonstrate the similarities between his artistic language and modern art ; some probe into the deep motivations of his unique narrative style by conducting research investigating his personal life experiences ; and some comment on his extremely modern manipulations of time, space, and the like.
After Faulkner's narrative style and art of language, it is his female characters that have captured the hearts of Chinese critics. Most Chinese critics employ feminist theory to analyze the female characters in the Yoknapatawpha novels, of whom Emily in A rose for Emily and Caddy in The sound and the fury are the most heavily discussed and studied characters in all Faulkner's novels. Most Chinese critics take the view that Faulkner demonstrates deep concern and sympathy for Southern women, whom he successfully depicts as oppressed and persecuted by Puritanism. Some critics, still argue that in Yoknapatawpha female characters are overwhelmed by male characters.
Chinese scholars have drawn comparisons between Faulkner and various British and American authors, including Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Ernest Hemingway, and Toni Morrison, and also viewed his writings in the context of those of modern and contemporary Chinese authors, including Lu Xun, Ba Jin, Shen Congwen, Mo Yan, Su Tong, and Zhang Wei.