Quest for recognition : narratives of war and emotions in Qing women's tanci fiction = 認同的征途 : 清代女性彈詞小說中的戰爭與情感

Abstract

In the tanci fiction created by Qing Dynasty “giuxiu” (cultivated gentlewomen of the inner chambers), a considerable number of “boudoir-general heroines” emerged: female protagonists born within the confines of domesticity, yet exhibiting extraordinary martial abilities and achieving laudable exploits in warfare. These heroines generally attained a harmonious culmination in both love and career, with a minority subtly or explicitly questioning the heterosexual order. The collective narratives of these boudoir-general heroines mirror women's ambition to intervene in the center of power and sculpt their envisioned form of heroism. Lack of practical warfare experience, guixiu faced challenges in crafting deeply authentic war scenes. However, observing how they envisioned and structured such scenes can powerfully aid in understanding the Qing women's intellectual world concerning history, emotion, body, and violence. As eras of instability approached, some guixiu were drawn into dialogues with local militias and tumults of the times. Examining these authors' handling and contemplation of war scenes also helps to comprehend women's attempts to engage with power during pivotal historical moments.

The fundamental objective of this study is to explore the emotions, ideals, and life narratives of Qing Dynasty guixiu. It seeks to elucidate the reasons behind these women's fascination with reading and composing tanci fiction that features boudoir-general heroines, and to understand how these guixiu articulated themes of warfare, authority, affection, and friendship. This inquiry examines the literary contributions of guixiu through the lens of emotional history and the biographical study of women, further enriching the analysis with insights from cultural history on gender identity and the process of self-recognition. The primary materials for this study are tanci fiction written by Qing women, complemented by their literary criticism, diaries, paintings, and poetry, as well as related literary evaluations, correspondence, and biographical materials. The findings reveal that the portrayal of conflict and sentiment in tanci literature served as a nuanced conduit for the guixiu to articulate their ambitions to transform existing hierarchies of power and emotional norms, thereby solidifying their sense of self. This invocation to identity is a significant source of its allure to women. At the same time, in these guixiu's literary endeavors to expand the space of discourse power, the anxiety for achieving “recognition” always follows as a shadow.

清代閨秀創作的彈詞小說中大量出現了“閨將英雄”式角色：生於深閨的女英雄射石飲羽，並在戰場上建功立業。這些女英雄大多在愛情與事業均收穫了完美和諧的結局，少部分則或隱或顯地對異性戀秩序表示懷疑。這種集體出現的閨將英雄敘事，表明閨秀有著介入權力中心的野心，並在想象中構建其理想的英雄主義。缺乏實際戰爭經驗的閨秀似乎很難塑造不流於表面的戰爭場景，但是觀察她們如何想象和建構戰爭場面，卻能夠有力地幫助我們了解清代女性思考歷史、情感、身體與暴力等議題的心靈世界。隨著世變危局來臨，部分閨秀已被捲入與地方武裝和時代動亂的對話中，觀察這部分作者對戰爭場面的處理和思考方式，亦可幫助我們了解女性在歷史縫隙中與權力斡旋的嘗試。

本文最根本的目的在於探索清代閨秀的情感、理想和生命故事，並由此解釋是什麼因素促使這一時期的閨秀喜歡閱讀和創作以閨將英雄為主角的彈詞小說，以及文本內外的閨秀如何看待和表達戰爭、權力、情愛、友誼。因此，本文從情感史和女性生命史的角度討論閨秀的書寫個案，並從文化史角度補充閨秀對性別身份和身份認同等問題的思考。本文的研究材料主要是清代女性彈詞小說，並輔以閨秀創作的文學評論、日記、畫作及詩詞，與她們相關的文學評價、書信、傳記等材料。研究發現，彈詞小說中的戰爭和情感敘事成為閨秀群體隱晦地表達重構權力秩序和情感秩序期望的載體，并發揮著凝聚閨秀身份認同的效用，這種對身份認同的感召是它對女性吸引力的重要來源。與此同時，在閨秀拓展她們在話語體系中所能獲得權力空間的文學嘗試中，滲透著對於獲得“認同”的焦慮。