Literature from Japan & China

Yukio Mishima's short story Patriotism and Ai Qing's poem Dayahnhe-My Wet-Nurse both employ the device of a male-female relationship as metaphor for love of country. In each work the authors construct their notion of Japanese and Chinese nationhood, though those constructs are quite different. In Windschuttle's commentary on Edward Said's Orientalism, the author notes that "The construction of identity in every age and every society involves established opposites and �others.' This happens because the development and maintenance of every culture requires the existence of another different and necessarily competing alter ego" (31). While this is particularly true among nations, it is also true internally. Nations often embrace national identity that posits an "other" even domestically, the "other" being devalued because it is in contrast with the values or beliefs national identity seeks to promote. We see this is clearly the case in both Mishima's Patriotism and Qing's Dayanhe, where each author advocates values of national identity at odds with the then status quo.

The use of a male-female relationship in Qing's poem and Mishima's short story mirrors the relationship between individual and country. Qing was a Chinese poet who believed in the doctrines of Mao Zedong, accused of being a rightist in the late 1950s. He was interned in labor camps but was eventually cleared of the charges. Qing advocated measures for the common people, ones that did no

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eat wealth and power on the labors of the poor. Qing's poem is a social protest at the same time that it pays homage to the poor and common people of China whose sacrifices have enabled the nation itself to become powerful and rich. In a sense, the "other" in China are the poor who are often neglected by the rich, powerful state that often exploits their labors and fails to respect their sacrifices. Despite such treatment, the poor often remain loyal to the state, much like Dayanhe is portrayed as being "�so devoted to her foster-child" (Ai 229). Likewise, Dayanhe's dream of one day attending the wedding of her foster-child and hearing the bride exclaim "Mother" to her is a dream she cannot express. Her voice is silenced by the powerful and oppressive about her, though her sacrifices are only appreciated after her death. In Patriotism, Mishima also uses a male-female relationship to express the relationship of the individual to the state. Mishima was a political activist who was considered right-wing because he supported a return to the nationalism and values of pre-war Japan. Mishima advocated a number of beliefs for society that were rejected after the end of WWII. As noted in the Economist, "Mishima believed that the em

Category: Literature - L