Abstract
Although Xu Xu’s (1908–1980) writing has garnered increasing attention in scholarly criticism and literary histories, his insightful novella Jingshenbing huanzhe de beige (Elegy for a Psychotic, 1943) has not attracted the same attention as his other writing. Elegy is a rare example of a literary engagement with psychological theories and clinical approaches. Central to the novel is the triangular relationship between a psychiatric assistant, a patient, and the patient’s live-in nurse, framed from beginning to end by the mentoring of the assistant by a famous French psychiatrist. This narrative set-up creates a dynamic that captures the representation of abnormal psychology and the reception of psychological idea. This paper argues that the narrative format and the psycho-ethical engagement of Elegy offer a rare cross-cultural examination of psychological ideas and psychotherapy in literary representation. As a coming of age story that takes place in 1930s Paris rather than in China and draws on Xu Xu’s neo-Romanticism, it points to a universally shared trauma derived from social repression and high idealism. In addition, it is a rare piece of writing that draws extensively on the nexus between medicine and literature and thus offers an interesting contribution to the field of Medical Humanities.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 495-511 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | International Communication of Chinese Culture |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sep 2016 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CityU 143913)Keywords
- Chinese literature
- Xu Xu (1908–1980)
- Psychotherapy
- Madness in literature
- Medical Humanities