CCLCS Seminar Series: Gloria Davies
Wednesday April 22, 2009
Certitude and Linguistic Play in Chinese Critical Inquiry
Gloria Davies
This paper deals with the language of Chinese intellectual discourse and explores its dynamism as a discourse that is radically cosmopolitan while retaining an ancient and destiny-inspired rhetoric cum rationale. In this paper, I argue in favor of translating the Chinese term for intellectual discourse (sixiang) as “critical inquiry”, as opposed to the conventional idea of “modern Chinese thought”. The latter tends to suggest a discourse of settled ideas that is quite at odds with the agonistic nature of Chinese intellectual discourse. By understanding sixiang as critical inquiry, we are more effectively reminded that this discourse bears the legacy of its earlier incarnations in China’s war-torn and violent twentieth century. As critical inquiry, sixiang is shaped and burdened by the instrumentalization of language as a nation-building tool and a revolutionary weapon. Focusing on the work of China’s best known modern writer and critic, Lu Xun, the paper examines how an enduring anticipation of collective betterment (or national perfection) predisposes the discourse of sixiang towards certitude. In this regard, it will also consider the ways in which sixiang is enriched by linguistic play that acknowledges the contingency of beliefs and values on the words used in their articulation.
Gloria Davies is Associate Professor in Chinese. Her publications include Voicing Concerns (2001), Globalization in the Asian Region (2004), Worrying About China: The Language of Chinese Critical Inquiry (2007) and Profiles in Courage (2008).