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Shanghai Nostalgia: Postrevolutionary Allegories in Wang Anyi's Literary Production in the 1990s

Shanghai Nostalgia: Postrevolutionary Allegories in Wang Anyi's Literary Production in the 1990s positions 8:2 © 2000 by Duke University Press positions 8:2 Fall 2000 fleeting sentimentality, a sham. What has happened in between, in the short period of time captured by Zhang in a few pages? As the siren goes off, the stream of life is halted and frozen into a frame; the expansive space of urban interactions is now crammed into a tram car; the movement, fluidity, and restlessness that characterize the city yield to immobility and fragmentation; the openness of the urban space is replaced by the city as a fortress; and the internal fractions—in economic, social, and class terms—of the city are amplified by its inhabitants’ instinct for selfpreservation. The surreal(ist) transition from restless energy to eerie quiet follows the impersonal image of the big city at the beginning of the story: Gradually, the street also grew quiet: not that it was a complete silence, but the sound of voices eased into a confused blur, like the soft rustle of a straw-stuffed pillow, heard in a dream. The huge, shambling city sat dozing in the sun, its head resting heavily on people’s shoulders, its spittle slowly dripping down their shirts, an inconceivably enormous weight pressing down on http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions asia critique Duke University Press

Shanghai Nostalgia: Postrevolutionary Allegories in Wang Anyi's Literary Production in the 1990s

Zhang, Xudong
positions asia critique , Volume 8 (2) – Sep 1, 2000
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2000 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-8-2-349
Publisher site
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Abstract

positions 8:2 © 2000 by Duke University Press positions 8:2 Fall 2000 fleeting sentimentality, a sham. What has happened in between, in the short period of time captured by Zhang in a few pages? As the siren goes off, the stream of life is halted and frozen into a frame; the expansive space of urban interactions is now crammed into a tram car; the movement, fluidity, and restlessness that characterize the city yield to immobility and fragmentation; the openness of the urban space is replaced by the city as a fortress; and the internal fractions—in economic, social, and class terms—of the city are amplified by its inhabitants’ instinct for selfpreservation. The surreal(ist) transition from restless energy to eerie quiet follows the impersonal image of the big city at the beginning of the story: Gradually, the street also grew quiet: not that it was a complete silence, but the sound of voices eased into a confused blur, like the soft rustle of a straw-stuffed pillow, heard in a dream. The huge, shambling city sat dozing in the sun, its head resting heavily on people’s shoulders, its spittle slowly dripping down their shirts, an inconceivably enormous weight pressing down on

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positions asia critique – Duke University Press

Published: Sep 1, 2000

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