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theses

This dissertation investigates the role of lyricism in mainland Chinese and Taiwanese poetry and film. The project centers on the directors Hou Hsiao-hsien and Jia Zhangke, whose films are frequently described as lyrical despite their detailed, realistic recreation of the past. The analysis of these filmmakers is paired with chapters dealing with poetry by Ya Xian, Bei Dao, Xi Chuan and others. Drawing on concepts from both the Chinese and Western traditions, the dissertation identifies key poetic strategies that are operative in the films while taking into account the particularities of each medium. Lyricism is a flexible term that has been applied variously to these poems and films in an attempt to capture the way they translate the affective layers of historical experience into comprehensible artistic forms. Much more than a genre or style, lyricism is the result of a particular activation of the reader or spectator, who must participate in the meaning-making process and therefore bring something of his or her own emotional and personal resources to the work. Because of that self-conscious participation, the experience of lyricism therefore enables a particular historical consciousness that can be a productive alternative to the more typical narrative forms of historicism that these artists reject.

ETD_7662

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Tara Coleman

doi:10.7282/T3Z03BFW

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.