Chao Chia-chi*

Abstract

This essay focuses on Eileen Chang’s (1920-1995) two-volume autobiographical novel The Fall of the Pagoda (Pagoda) and The Book of Change (Change) written in the mid-1960s, and explores Chang’s motivation of developing the western readers’ understanding about the early 20^th century China through her bilingual writing practice in the novel. Firstly, the essay points out the paternal characters in Pagoda are intentionally represented as remnants of the declining China rooted in the Confucianism, and discovers that Chang, in Change, especially foregrounds the female issues by connecting the adolescent patronage’s concerns with the Yin-yang gender concept and the philosophy of Taoism. Subsequently, by examining Chang’s self-introduction published in the World Author series, it traces Chang’s mentioning of May Fourth “New Literature” as the writing paradigm, arguing that Chang’s target of writing Pagoda and Change was to clarify the western readers’ misunderstanding about the early Republic of China. Finally, this essay indicates that the editorial discourse of World Authors not only portrayed Chang as an acclaimed Chinese novelist, but it also shaped Chang’s bilingual writings as the successful literary representation of cultural China. Through the textual and contextual exploration of Pagoda and Change, this essay concludes that the novel is not merely Chang’s autobiographical piece, but it could be regarded as the transcultural medium in which Chang transmitted her deep observation on the social transformation of the early 20^th century China to the internationally non-Chinese readers.

Keywords: Eileen Chang, The Fall of the Pagoda, The Book of Change, transcultural, World Authors