Alternative urban narrative : spatial writing in Hong Kong short stories, 1950s-1960s = 另種香港城市敘事 : 五、六十年代短篇小說空間書寫中的「人城關係」

Abstract

Hong Kong literature bloomed from the 1950s to the 1960s; however, the existing studies in this period seem selective, especially for those unfamous short stories. Scholars still focus on topics such as revealing the suffering reality of the bottom, criticizing the corrupted urban life, or expressing nostalgia, and few investigate whether these stories could represent more sophisticated relationships between the city (Hong Kong) and its residents. Hence, this thesis utilizes the lens of space to analyze short stories delineating urban residents’ daily lives, which are mainly published in four newspapers, namely the “Wen Yi” of Wen Wei Po, The Chinese Student Weekly, New Evening Post and New Life Evening Post, to explore how they represent the interaction between urban commoners and the city. From the private to the public level, this thesis discusses three kinds of urban spatial forms: squatter, neighborhood, and street. Firstly, some short stories, which set squatters as scenarios, directly depict the seriously destroyed residential situation that residents are forced to confront; simultaneously, others write about residents’ imaginary lives based on their real living conditions. These stories express lower-middle-class people’s struggle to obtain a stable dwelling place, and the eagerness to settle down in Hong Kong. Secondly, some short stories delineate trivial but comforting intercourses in neighborhoods, showing commoners have gradually established a sense of place during this period, which could be regarded as the prelude to local identity consciousness. Finally, the stories set in the streets exploit the openness and hybridity of streets to generate narratives of how urban commoners, who still hold traditions, interact with modern social values in the early stage of urbanization, revealing the ambiguous and entangled connections between the city and its residents. In conclusion, this thesis argues that more sophisticated relationships between urban commoners and the city (Hong Kong) are manifested in short stories written in the 1950s to the 1960s, which can add some nuanced perspectives to literary studies during this period. Furthermore, this thesis also discusses the similarities between selected stories and literary works after the 1970s and investigates the possibility of breaking through current discursive boundaries in Hong Kong urban literature.