The last classic Chinese novel: Vision and design in the travels of Laocan.

• Author: Lin, Shuen-Fu

The Travels of Laocan, one of the most famous works of fiction from the turn of the twentieth century, is here considered as the last classic Chinese novel. The complex literary and cultural contexts of the end of the Qing dynasty, in which the author, Liu E, lived and wrote are noted. Discussion then focuses on the structure and "lyric vision" of the novel, including matters of authorial point of view, Liu E's bifurcation of his fictional world into one dealing with the harsh realities in the China of his day and one with idealized characters and utopian settings, and the unresolved conflict between the central character's scientific attitude toward things and his attraction to traditional Chinese values.

THE TRAVELS OF LAOCAN (Laccan youji [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] by Liu E [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (1857-1909) is one of the masterpieces of fiction produced at the turn of the twentieth century, during the closing years of the Qing dynasty (1644 -- 1911), the last imperial period in Chinese history. Like other important novels written in that era of national crisis and cataclysmic transition from the old empire to the new republic, The Travels of Laocan is characterized by a grave concern with the perilous condition of the China of that day and its future fate, and captures "the emerging modern society of China in all its complexity, diversity, and uncertainty." (1) Written at a time when Chinese writers had already been exposed to Western literature, especially works of fiction, through an astonishingly large number of translations, Liu E's work displays the typical tendency of the late Qing novel to combine narrative devices from the native tradition with experimental innovations inspired by contacts with the West. (2) But despite these similarities with other fiction of its day, The Travels of Laocan is not simply--as it has been customary to view it--one among many late Qing novels of social and political satire. (3) It is unique in embodying qualities that place it in the twilight of the tradition of the classic Chinese novel. Because of its interesting synthesis of elements from two radically different literary and cultural traditions, The Travels of Laocan thus occupies a crucial position in the history of Chinese fiction.

Several studies have drawn attention to the importance of this novel, but usually with emphasis on either its revolutionary achievement or its traditional character. For instance, in his excellent pioneering study on the art and meaning of Liu E's novel, C. T. Hsia regards it as probably China's first political novel, with attributes in common with the modern lyrical novel. (4) But the late Jaroslav Prusek considers it as "the last great apologia of the old Chinese civilization before its fall" and as a novel that still makes much use of traditional Chinese story-telling technique. (5) The difference seen in these interpretations from two major authorities on Chinese fiction reflects not only their own differences in critical focus and approach but also the richness of the novel's meaning and the complexity of Liu E's art.

To assess fully Liu E's contribution to Chinese fiction, we must take into account both his adaptations of traditional norms and his assimilation of Western influences. My aim in this paper is to examine those qualities that define this turn-of-the-century work as the last classic Chinese novel. I shall focus attention on the problem of design, with an eye to other related issues such as narrative mode and the underlying lyric vision of the novel. Narrative structure is the focus of my investigation for two reasons. First, the structure of Laocan youji has puzzled many readers and its theoretical foundations have not been fully studied. All too often the novel is seen either to have a "rambling structure" (6) or to lack "unity both of plot and subject matter." (7) These views reflect implicit or explicit imposition of the Western conception of what a novel should be. (8) To apprehend the distinctive modes of narrative structure found in any literary tradition, we must try to free ourselves as much as possible from the rigid imposition of norms derived from another tradition. Second, the structural peculiarity of The Travels of Laocan has larger implications in modern Chinese cultural history. On a previous occasion I have argued that "narrative structure is not merely an arbitrary literary technique--quite significantly, it is also a way in which people view life and the world." (9) The turn of the twentieth century is a specially interesting and important age, one that witnessed the final breakdown of the traditional Chinese world-view under the crushing impact of Western civilization. It will become clear in the course of this paper that the intriguing structure of Laocan youji is related to this fundamental change in world-view. Suffice to say here that no other writer of the late Qing has more poignantly captured the conflict between two divergent world-views.

Today we have in our possession a total of twenty-nine chapters of The Travels of Laocan. The first twenty chapters constitute what has been called the "initial volume" (chubian [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), which is an integral novel in itself, and the remaining nine are what we have left of the "second volume" (erbian - [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). (10) Liu E is supposed to have started an "outer volume" (waibian [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) but it seems unlikely that he went further than the fragment of chapter 1, containing some 4728 characters, that we have today. (11) The fragment of this "outer volume" is too brief and incomplete to be of consequence in any discussion of the novel's structure or of Liu E's achievements as a fiction writer. In this paper, therefore, I shall limit myself to the "initial volume" and the "second volume."

In exploring the structure of Laccan youji, the immediate difficulty one confronts is the problem of overall design, since the "second volume" is unfinished. Serialized fiction was introduced from the West into China as a new form of narrative literature during the late Qing. Although written to be serialized, only the first fourteen chapters, minus chapter 11, of the "initial volume" were published in the Shanghai magazine Xiuxiang xiaoshuo [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] between September 1903 and January 1904, and the "second volume" in the Tianjin newspaper Riri xinwenbao [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in 1907. (12) Given this serialized format, it proved difficult for Liu E to maintain the unity and integrity of his narrative over a long period of composition. Further, concerning the overall structure of the novel, Liu E's son Liu Dashen [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] has made the following important remark: "The book Laocan youji was the product of my father' s momentary inspiration. At first, he neither had any plan or purpose nor any organization or structure in mind. He merely wrote a few pages each day to give to friends." (13) Even though Liu Dashen must have known something of his father's writing habits, we cannot accept his comments without scrutiny when discussing the structure of Liu E's novel. Narrative structure is intrinsic to a piece of narrative literature and should be discerned from within the work itself. After several close readings of the "initial volume" and the "second volume," I think it is clear that Liu E had a general integrative framework in mind when he was writing the novel, so that a loose overall design was never lost sight of in his work. Owing to Liu E's writing in a serialized format, the narrative framework of the work probably evolved gradually as the author went along, and some inconsistencies are bound to exist as a result. Nonetheless, this should not be mistaken for a lack of an integrative framework. Even though the "second volume" stands unfinished, a careful reading reveals that it does indeed contain sufficient and essential clues to what must be the novel's overall meaning and design. Hence it must be included in any serious discussion of the narrative structure of the work.

Laocan youji is one of the four major novels of the late Qing. The other three great works are Guanchang xianxingji [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (Bureaucracy Exposed) by Li Baojia [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) (1867-1906), Ershinian muduzhi guaixianzhuang [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (Strange Things Seen in the Last Twenty Years) by Wu Woyao [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (1866-1910), and Niehai hua [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (The Flower in the Sea of Retribution) by Zeng Pu [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (1872-1935). (14) Zeng Pu actually did not complete his book until 1927 but had finished the bulk of it by 1907. (15) Despite the proximity in time of composition of these four novels, their authors were not all of the same generation. Liu E was older than the other three figures by nine or more years. During a period like that of the late Qing and early Republic, in which the changing of values was so accele rated, a decade was long enough to create a sort of "generation gap" in the thought of these writers. Zeng Pu, the youngest of the four novelists, was the only one clearly sympathetic toward the revolutionary movement led by Sun Yat-sen [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (1866-1925). (16) And the renowned Lu Xun [CHINESE CHARACTER NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (1881-1936), foremost in launching an all-out attack--through his creative writing--on traditional Chinese culture, was only nine years younger than Zeng Pu. Since the Opium War of 1840, the Chinese had been losing confidence in their civilization under the onslaught of foreign invasion and the impact of the West. But it was...