Interculturality in HLM

Back to JM overview page.

Commonness between the Red Chamber Dreams

and other World Literature Novels –

Proposing the Red Chamber Dreams to the World Documentary Heritage List

Martin Woesler, Hunan Normal University

Abstract

In every culture, readers associate the literature they know with new literature they read. So literature is always cumulative, it grows out of existing literature and can refer back to it. When Western readers read the Red Chamber Dreams, they foremost associate novels and other pieces of literature of their own cultural tradition with the Dreams. This has also influenced the first full translation into German.

Cao Xueqin and even more his protagonist Jia Baoyu both are early humanists, universalists and world citizens. The Red Chamber Dreams function worldwide. The Dream is a complex showroom of diverse aspects of Chinese cultures and is the embodiment and essence of Chinese cultures, but it has also a global impact, therefore it should be honoured as “World Documentary Heritage”.

Key words

Western culture, reception tradition, German translation, Embodiment of Chinese cultures, global compatibility, World Documentary Heritage

摘要

在每一种文化中，读者都会把他们读到的新文学与已知文学联系起来，所以文学总是积累的，它从现有的文学中生长出来，并以已有文学为参考。西方读者在阅读《红楼梦》时，首先会把《红楼梦》与自身文化传统中的小说和其他文学作品联系起来，这也影响了首次德语全译本。

曹雪芹，尤其是他的主人公贾宝玉，都是早期的人文主义者，普世主义者和世界公民。《红楼梦》具有普世价值。《红楼梦》综合展示了中国的多元文化，是中国文化的集中体现和精华，同时在全球范围内产生影响，理应列入世界记忆遗产名录。

1. Chinese Ethics

To help the poor and disadvantaged belongs to the traditional core values of Chinese culture.

When we sit in the Beijing Subway today, the loudspeaker announcement reminds us, that it is Chinese traditional ethics to give seats to the disadvantaged (老弱病残孕让座是中国传统道德). We know of Cao Xueqin, that he supported the poor and disadvantaged, and that he made kites for children.

However, when we look closer at these “Chinese Ethics”, we discover, that they are claimed also in Indian Buddhism “karuna” and in the Christian tradition of “caritas” and in almost every civilization. Therefore, we might call these values “human ethics”.

2. Compatibility

Why do the Red Chamber Dreams function worldwide and have achieved world literature status even in their translations?

First of all, the Red Chamber Dreams are, like novels worldwide, a piece of entertainment literature. In comparison to the drama, in which every element is compulsory and plays its part in the overall structure, in the novel the line of action itself is simpler and not so important, most of the scenes or episodes are loosely put together and fit in the broader theme of the novel. However, the lose arrangement of episodes of the Dreams comes from the tradition of almost unconnected episodes like in the Shuihuzhuan and is a step towards the greater coherence of the episodes, the aligning into a story line and the greater concentration on fewer protagonists. Therefore, the Dreams show clearly a step towards the Western tradition of novels, maybe because of growing Western influence in Qing dynasty.

3. Impact of translator’s native culture on the translation process

There are intercultural parallels between the Red Chamber Dreams and Western works of literature. These parallels are fundamental for the translation and were explicitly and implicitly fundamental for the German translator Martin Woesler during his translation and editorial work on the first full German translation. In the following, I will mention some of the Western novels and pieces of literature, which the Western reader of the Dreams will immediately think of.

4. The novel as embodiment of “Zeitgeist”

According to Georg Lukács’ Theory of the Novel, while the Epos (like Homer’s Ilias, which like the Dream reasons the stories in the divine realm) displayed a holistic world experience, a complete, self-contained culture, the novel displays, that the modern world has become infinitely large and has lost its homely quality. The novel as a genre is no longer documenting just one culture, but represents, with the words of Walter Benjamin, the Organon of History. So the understanding of the novel changed with Lukacs to historical-philosophically. A novel is understood as typical for its historical era, the novel embodies the spirit of the epoch (Zeitgeist).

The Red Chamber Dreams are written in front of the background of the Manchu minority having taken over the power in formerly Han-shaped Ming-China (which was a multi-ethnic and crosscultural society) and families suffering the changing favor of changing emperors, with the Cao family being fostered by Kangxi and being persecuted by Yongzheng. While the author in his time could not criticize the system and power of emperors, in the novel he came to terms with this life by seeking the guilt for the persecution in the growing decadence of the family (engaging in Daoism, leisure, poetry-writing, arts and music instead of learning for being able to earn a living) and in himself not fulfilling the expectations as the family heir. This description of decadence of a declining family reminds us of the novels of Tschechov (and e.g. in the Buddenbrooks by Mann, including the turn to arts and music). Moreover, with the detailed description of life on all social levels in early Qing Dynasty, the Dream appears as a documentary historical novel very much like Günter Grass’ The Tin Drum 1959.

5. Coming-of-age and Alienation

Abandoning the paradise-like garden in the Red Chamber Dreams is a symbol for leaving the protected childhood and arriving in the complex world of adults. With George Lukács theory of the novel, the protagonist starts to problematize the sense of his life, in the novel, the protagonist’s self permanently struggles with his environment. However, Cao Xueqin’s message is not simply the one of “Paradise Lost”, instead he himself made the best out of his life. Although being less wealthy than when his family still enjoyed the favour of the emperor, there was a payroll system and a social net intact in Early Qing China, where he received enough income to be independent from his rich relatives, to be selective on accepting jobs, to live a relaxed life in a small house in the nature, spending time with his family and friends, follow his own interests, like reading, writing and drinking wine, making kites for the children and thinking of the disadvantaged.

Cao Xueqin was fully aware of his time and China’s cultural achievements, he was familiar with the different levels of society, he was a detailed observer and skilful narrator. He may have conceptualized the ending of the novel as a discussion about the different personalities of the characters in the novel and therefore displaying his reflection about life and his psychological understanding of the diversity of human nature. He was able to grasp the “spirit of time” (Zeitgeist) and with his autobiographical experience create an eternal coming-of-age novel not just for his family, for the Qing-Chinese, for Chinese people, but for mankind.

This tradition of Coming-of-age novels is also a European one, like enlightenment philosopher Voltaire’s novel Candide or Optimism《老实人》shows at the very same time (1759) in Europe. Also Voltaire’s Candide has to leave the luxurious paradise of his childhood and strives for true love, but his main learning is more pessimistic, since Voltaire wrote the novel in opposition to Leibniz, who optimistically looked to China as “the best of all worlds”. Recent research findings show that China had a much larger influence on European enlightenment philosophers and we can be sure, that also Cao Xueqin was aware of some European literary traditions.

Also the German readership is familiar with the chronological following of the life of the protagonist and his development, the fate of a family over generations, the German readership knows this type of novel as the “Education novel” or “Coming-of-age-novel”. In Germany, the genre of the coming-of-age novel has a long tradition and it is shaped more by single characters, who appear as teachers (Goethe: Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship威廉·麦斯特的学徒岁月 1795-96, Novalis 诺瓦利斯: Heinrich von Ofterdingen《海因利·封·歐福特丁根》1802). Wilhelm Meister, parallely to Jia Baoyu, is struggling with the traditional education, in Wilhelm Meister this is represented with the classics revived in Shakespeare’s dramas. Tradition can give orientation, but the personality of the protagonist needs to develop through emancipation is a wisdom, we can learn from all mentioned novels including the Dreams.

6. Pornography and True Love, female rivals

Sexuality is a basic human need and has developed into different shapes in all cultures. The German audience is familiar with erotic topics from the Middle Ages, in which sexuality was stylized. In the “Schwänke” of the 15th century (Wittenwielers Ring), erotic scenes are described sexually explicit. In the barock literature of the 17th century even the physical act is described extensively.

According to „cumulativity“, every human being is a product of history and literature is based on previous literature, therefore the author of this pager thinks that this background has to be taken into account while translating. The best study on qing passion in the Dreams is the one by Anthony Yu, who understood it as desire and as the central motif of the Dreams. „The centrality of qing in shaping virtually every aspect of The Story of the Stone’s structure and meaning cannot be denied [...].“ (Anthony Yu 2001, 54).

In the framework story of the Dreams, the narrator consciously takes a stand against low-action and stereotypical pornographic literature as well as against the widespread romance novels (with the classic roles of the beautiful, talented woman and the poor scholar who finally achieves a respected position and prosperity by passing a civil service exam). In chapter 1 he says: ”of the true feelings of young people [...] nobody has reported about so far.”

Erotic scenes are described in a decent and associative way (“Game of clouds and rain”), while displaying another quality in its openness e.g. towards bisexuality. The Dreams narrate the story of unfortunate lovers. Unfortunate lovers also in the West have a literary tradition, they constitute an archetype, such as Hero and Leander, Pyramus and Thisbe, Tristan and Isolde, Flore and Blanscheflur as well as Troilus and Cressida, the latter being considered the model for Arthur Brookes, who wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1562 and thus directly influenced Shakespeare.

While Marián Galik saw as the central topic of both, the Dream and Faust, the eternal feminine, which draws us on high, Gu Cheng called it the “eternal virgine”. In Goethe’s coming-of-age novel Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, we find a similar motif of female rivals, in the Keller 凯勒The Green Henry 《绿衣亨利》1855, the hero turns away from an emphatically sexually designed figure and turns to the 'real' woman. In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice 1813 Elizabeth and Lin Daiyu are similar, e.g. they both strive for real love (Zhuang 2011).

7. Feudal society and slavery

A widespread interpretation is that Jia Baoyu’s equal treatment of family members and slaves would be a manifesto to free the slaves. I also do not share this interpretation, since Aristotle, when he demanded democracy, would exclude slaves from the right to vote. So we cannot use modern concepts to judge on the past. In my understanding, Jia Baoyu was not fighting inequality, but looked at the people as humans and individuals. Also the understanding of the servants as slaves does not match the description in the Dream, since some servants had servants themselves, the family took care after they left the Jia family to find a match for them and Jia Zheng refers to his daughter Yingchun as „yatou 丫头“, so it is inappropriate to translate this expression with slave. Therefore, the translator preferred “servant” over “slave” in the translation.

Mo Yan in his speech at the Frankfurt Bookfair in 2009, when China was the guest of honor, draws the (similarly) parallel between the Dream and Goethe’s Sorrows of the Young Werther, that both expressed the wish to abandon feudal society. My own impression is that both do not express this wish, but that this is a later concept and interpretation and we should not apply this to judge the past.

8. Tragedy of all tragedies

Aristotle explained in On the Tragedy (Poetics VI), that tragedies move people more than comedies because they “imitate [mimēsis] an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude” (Aristotle 1971, 51), This high esteem of the tragedy in Europe is partly ascribed to the loss of Aristotle’s work On the Comedy. While Europe has the Hamlet as its tragedy of all tragedies, the lack of tragic literature in Chinese literary tradition has long been lamented. Wang Guowei sees the Dream as "tragedy of all tragedies". To Wang Guowei the suffering of Faust and Jia Baoyu is central in the novels. However, many scholars contest that Faustianism is central for Chinese culture.

In 18th century Europe, we saw a new development in the genre of the drama, to establish a “bourgeois tragedy”. It developed as an emancipatory movement in the 18th century in London, Paris and Germany, and demonstrated that tragedy was not reserved to rulers, but was also imagineable for lower noblemen and ordinary citizens. The Dream at the same time as the bourgeois tragedy in Europe shows a tragic story of a mid-level noble family which loses its titles and privileges.

9. “Non-Binary” Novels

One of the things attracting Western readers is the adorable but mysterious protagonist Jia Baoyu. With his open bisexual orientation and his interest in his mates regardless of their social status, he appears “modern” or at least displaced in time. His struggle with traditional learning makes him appear sympathetic, his long states of rapture out of the world give him both the aura of a timeless character and of mystery.

With the bisexual orientation of the Dreams’ protagonist, the novel appears non-binary. According to Karl-Heinz Pohl, binaries are just superficial, ultimately decisive is the Heart Sutra. Today, the novel is listed among the genre of non-binary literature (see e.g. the bibliographical list on https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/non-binary), in which contrasts are dissolved deconstructivistically.

10. Foreign Cultures in the Red Chamber Dreams

Foreign Cultures frequently appear in the Dreams in all kinds of varieties, like exoticism with the many objects in the household and presented to the household as novelties. These foreign objects were mostly coming from the huge trade ships from Europe, sometimes through the imperial court. They were collected by wealthy families as rare objects, expressions of human craftsmanship and they were displayed in the wealthy households as a sign of cosmopolitianism. Reasons for receiving foreign goods were that the Cao family engaged in silk weaving and also undertook private business investments, at least one time also with imperial funds and support. Another reason may be that the Cao family hosted the emperor four or five times during his inspection trips to the South and received gifts as signs of gratitude.

Foreign objects appearing in the novel were Siamese tribute gifts like Siamese tea and pigs, wood incense and rose dew, # Repairing the peacock fur for Baoyu may have required knowledge about Western weaving techniques.# There is a self-chiming bell in Baoyu’s room which was repaired often. Baoyu had a watch and clocks are referred to frequently in the novel.

Cao Yin in the age of 17 was a bodyguard of the emperor and in April 1690 became a weaver in Suzhou and later in Jiangning. He secretly reported to Kangxi about the situation in Jiangnan.

A lasting impression is created by the description of the blond girl of the same age as Baoyu referred to in person (combining different origins and cultures, including European, Japanese, Chinese) or several times on paintings, one time shown with wings as an angel. The playful combination of different traditions we can see also when a religious dress is described, which carries characteristics of different religions. Similarly, the Daoist monk and the Confucian priest appear together. Cao Xueqin wanted to show the richness and diversity, also with the many topics and societal levels of the novel. Even a variety of Christian motifs can be found, like when Jia Baoyu is not recognized by his father in chapter 120 and when he disappears, all parallel to Jesus Christ.

World Documentary Heritage

The World Documentary Heritage contains a number of immaterial cultural goods which are considered worth being kept.

The variety of cultures in the Red Chamber Dreams is paralleled with the variety of elements of different dynasties, which makes it timeless and therefore even more a masterpiece of Chinese art and a masterpiece of human art. Therefore I would like to nominate the Red Chamber Dreams as “World Documentary Heritage”.

For example, in the Red Chamber Dreams, Cao Xueqin gave detailed descriptions on the styles and patterns of the clothings , which serves as a showcase deplaying its rich cultural connotations, say its related changes throughout the history, social systems, socisal status, customs as well as lending itself into the other cutlures and etc..

References

Anthony, C. Yu. (2001). Rereading the Stone: Desire and the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber. Princeton University Press.

Aristotle. (1971). Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. Ed. Hazard Adams. Critical Theory since Plato. ew York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 48-66.

Woesler, Martin, ed., Cao Xueqin, Gao E et al. (2016). Der Traum der Roten Kammer oder Die Geschichte vom Stein [Red Chamber Dreams or The Story of the Stone], Peking: Foreign Languages Press, ISBN 9787119094120, 4813 pages, 6 vols., hardcover, transl. by Rainer Schwarz and Martin Woesler; Chinese-German bilingual edition

Woesler, Martin. (2011). “Being Explicit About the Implicit – John Minford’s Translation of the last Forty Chapters of The Story of the Stone with a Field Study on two Sexually Arousing Scenes”. Hong lou meng xue kan 6: 274-289

Woesler, Martin. (2010). “ ’To Amuse the Beaux and Belles’ The Early Western Reception of the Hongloumeng”. Journal of Sino-Western Communications 2 (2010.12) 2:81-107

Zhuang, Xiuhua. (2011). Self, Ideal and Salvation: A Comparative Study of Jane Austen’s Elizabeth and Cao Xueqin’s Lin Daiyu. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 420-423, March 2011. Fulltext: http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/jltr/vol02/02/19.pdf.

Notes

10. Wit and strategic thinking of protagonists

Harro v. Senger: Traum und Nibelungenlied (Kontrast): Siegfried und Krimhild waren unintelligent, ja dumm, da sie kein Bewusstsein für die Gefährlichkeit ihrer Feinde hatten, anders als Wang Xifeng. S. a. die lange Bekanntheit und die lange Anwendung der chinesischen Stratageme im chinesischen Volk.

11. Society novels

Dream and Kazuo Ishiguro’s „Was vom Tage übrig blieb“ are both society novels.

13 Trials and Tribulations of young people

The Dream and Goethe’s Elective Affinities are both love novels, describing the trials and tribulations of young people.

Kommentar Woesler: Traum und Roman „Jenny" von Fanny Lewald. Wenn man Wu, Yenna folgt in der Deutung der Traum-Frauenfiguren: “The Virago: A Literary Theme", Cambridge UP 1995. Wu geht jedoch nicht auf Lewald ein.

16. Buddhism and Daoism

The German-language reader is not unfamiliar with Buddhist and Daoist thoughts, Richard Wilhelm has early translated the Yijing and Herrmann Hesse’s is Siddharta. An Indian Tale, is significantly influenced by Buddhist and Taoist thoughts.

18.

Farben und Farbsymbolismus sehr wichtig (wie auch generell bei Chaucer, Shakespeare und Poe; in den Shakespeare'schen Gedichten und Schauspielen ist grün manchmal die Frabe der Eifersucht usw.)