“Albert Camus in China” (Publication, 2010)
Year
2010
Text
Niu, Jingfan. Albert Camus in China. In : Thought & humanism ; vol. 7, no 1 (2010). (CamA70)
Type
Publication
Mentioned People (1)
Camus, Albert
(Mondovi, Algerien 1913-1960 Autounfall bei Villeblevin, Yonne) : Schriftsteller, Philosoph, Journalist, Bühnenautor, Schauspieler, Nobelpreisträger
Subjects
Literature : Occident : France
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References / Sources
Chronology Entries (6)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1979-2010 |
Niu, Jingfan. Albert Camus in China [ID D24733]. Niu Jingfan : Albert Camus had to face his late arrival in modern China. For a China that was deeply mired in the domestic conflicts and foreign invasions in the first half of the last century and for the Chinese intellectuals struggling in a time out of joint, Camus's Sisyphus question that explored all the aspects of human existence in an age of peace and his sense of strangerness were too untimely. There were two modes for the reception of Camus in mainland China. In philosophy, he was cited as a representative of existentialism and was introduced to the Chinese academia soon after Sartre. In literature, Camus as a Nobel Prize winner as well as a representative of absurdism, started to be widely admired by Chinese writers and scholars. While the studies of Camus's philosophy and aesthetics is advancing in university education and research, a question that remains to be answered is whether his style and temperament have extended their substantial influence to contemporary Chinese literature. For this, no satisfactory answer seems to habe been found. Most of the writers, who are overhaunted by their motives of patricide in their writing or anxiety of influence, are unwilling to clarify the sources of their literary works. The ambiguity itself is understandable since authors always find themselves indebted to varied origins. All in all, any influence or reception should be embodied by individual experiences. To influence someone is to inspire and stimulate him or her. Whether we have received Camus's existentialist philosophy and his rebellious spirit depends on our own action. In addition, there are two types of influence : explicit or implicit. Sometimes, we are unconsciously influenced and on some peculiar occasions, someone's words or their actions may suddenly flash into our mind and lead us to a vital decision. Choice and freedom, love and commitment, absurdity and struggle, existence and dignity – all are the universal Camusian questions that reflect upon the essence of life, and the paradoxes of existence that challenge people of different nations and generations. Therefore, it can be assumed that Camus will continue to gain his new vitality in the Chinese context. The Sars crisis in 2003 reminded the masses of La peste and gave them a new opportunity to reread it and to re-understand the author. Shocked by what had insightfully been foretold in this fable, Chinese readers identified their affinity with Camus. Over the pas few years, search engines, personal blogs and online forums have gained increasing popularity with regard to the shared reading of the author and diversified our receptions of him. Although there is no exact estimation of his influence on our contemporary culture and our spiritual world, what can be affirmed is that he has participated in the construction of contemporary Chinese literature and continues to influence us. In one word, his journey in our country is still going on. His Chinese journey is still an ongoing process. |
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| 2 | 1987 |
Liu, Jianhua. A Cheng de 'Qi wang' yu Jiamou de 'Ju wei ren' [ID D24746]. Both of these two works are 'serious absurdist philosophic fictions' that were 'viewing the world through panes or re-examining it in a philosophically detached way'. Their heroes were not demonstrating the logics of real life through their actions, but in a casual, wary and even idiotic manner, conveying to us their attitudes towards life – not the concrete living conditions but the short life that universally exists for us ; not the objective world, but the nihilities of time and space. A critic asserted : We cannot hastily conclude that A Cheng was particularly influenced by Camus' art or philosophy or that he was copying or imitating Camus. On the contrary, we are more convinced that contemporary Chinese literature has found its own specific circumstance and ground that are essentially similar to those for contemporary world literature. It was not in its superficial imitation of Camus but in its distinctive root-seeking that A Cheng's fiction unfolded the existential absurdity in Camus's L'étranger. |
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| 3 | 1996 | Aufführung von La peste von Albert Camus in der Adaptation von Francis Huster durch die Shanghai Modernists' Dramatic Society in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Cultural Office of the French Consulate in Shanghai mit Zhao Yi'ou. [Adaptation, mise en scène et interprétation de Francis Huster. (Paris : L'avant-scène, 1994)]. | |
| 4 | 2002 |
Ma, Yuan. Yue du da shi. (Shanghai : wen yi chu ban she, 2002). Ma Yuan put L'étranger and La peste on his required reading list. When talking about the techniques camus used in L'étranger, he said : "Camus was so calm in his fiction that no emotion was revealed. His lanuage was plain and indifferent and most of the sentences in the fiction were concise. We could hardly see how the caracters were thinking. Travail as they may have been, all the details had their significance – the prevalent calmness and self-restraint kept a very firm hand on the author's feelings and emotions." |
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| 5 | 2003 |
Sun, Ganlu. Ci di shi gu xiang = 此地是故乡 : "I vaguely remembered it was in an afternoon break that I was reading Camus on a folding chair in a post office... the rods of a passing tram scrubbing the wires with a rustling sound, I began to have a faint vision of Shanghai, a sketch that was being extended and revised in the realm of sounds." Twenty years later, when China was confronted with the Sars crisis in 2003, Sun was still urging his readers to go back to Camus : "Great Camus found the absurdity of the world through La peste, but the fashionable people are finding sashion through Sars". |
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| 6 | 2007 |
Wu, Xiaodong. Huai xiang piao bo de bei da xue ren. http://xuxiaohui.blog.techweb.com.cn/archives/174 Professor Wu Xiaodong, as he was reflecting upon his early writing career in the 1980s, said, "The essays Camus wrote in his twenties were the great examples for my writing. Although they were immature, the essays I wrote at that time were unique." |
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Sources (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1987 | Liu, Jianhua. A Cheng de 'Qi wang' yu Jiamou de 'Ju wei ren'. In : Wai guo wen xue yan jiu ; vol. 1 (1987). [Vergleich von A Cheng's King of chess mit Albert Camus's L'étranger]. | Publication / CamA71 |
Cited by (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2000- | Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich | Organisation / AOI |
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