“예외적 상태”의 재탐색: 중국 현대문학에 재현된 무국적성, 경계적 상태와 시적 연대 (Revisiting the “State of Exception”: Statelessness, Liminality, and Poetic Alliance in Modern Chinese and Colonial Taiwanese Literature)

서지정보

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· 저자명 : 봉인영

초록

Drawing on Agamben’s concept of the “state of exception,” this article examines how statelessness and liminality were represented and inextricably interwoven in works of Shu Qun, Dan Di, and Wu Zhouliu written in China during the 1930s and 1940s. Through a close reading of literary texts, it addresses how stateless Russians were imprisoned on suspicion of various charges that were never brought to trial and thus forced to endure an interminable confinement, which effectively amounted to a death sentence. Given that most Russians in China were stateless, Shu Qun’s literary treatment of them in “Stateless People” and “On the Verge of Being Killed and Not Yet Being Killed,” two works that underline the Russians’ liminal position, problematizes the intricate interlocking of de jure statelessness and de facto statelessness. This article argues that sovereign power was executed even on the micro level of the prison, where the threat of death can be conceptualized as a quasi-sovereignty. Furthermore, Shu Qun’s “Stateless People” also illustrates how Russians were treated as nationals who deserved some measure of legal protection. Despite the circumstances of their imprisonment, stateless people who were stripped of basic resources for living did not simply submit to death but performed their own agency and exercised their volition in the face of excruciating surveillance, ruthless interrogation, and physical violence. The article also analyzes the literary style of Shu Qin’s stories, in particular the use of rhetorical devices such as repetition and contrast to express a “life-or-death” struggle, a narrative that is ironically infused with the desire to live. The last part of this article discusses how the employment of classical Chinese poetry and songs in narrative in “Stateless People” and Orphan of Asia, conceptualized as “poetic alliance,” can be utilized as a common cultural channel for communicating between mainland Chinese and Taiwanese and thus helps to overcome the geographical and ethnic borderlines of the two peoples. By exploring the cultural significance of the colonial legacy of modern China and Taiwan, this study suggests that poetic alliance serves as a vital source for living and sharing, as long as human consciousness is coupled with willpower. Poetic alliance encompasses both the act of living and creative cultural potential; a shared, symbolic literary heritage can lead to the deconstruction of cultural barriers and ethnic borderlines.

영어초록

Drawing on Agamben’s concept of the “state of exception,” this article examines how statelessness and liminality were represented and inextricably interwoven in works of Shu Qun, Dan Di, and Wu Zhouliu written in China during the 1930s and 1940s. Through a close reading of literary texts, it addresses how stateless Russians were imprisoned on suspicion of various charges that were never brought to trial and thus forced to endure an interminable confinement, which effectively amounted to a death sentence. Given that most Russians in China were stateless, Shu Qun’s literary treatment of them in “Stateless People” and “On the Verge of Being Killed and Not Yet Being Killed,” two works that underline the Russians’ liminal position, problematizes the intricate interlocking of de jure statelessness and de facto statelessness. This article argues that sovereign power was executed even on the micro level of the prison, where the threat of death can be conceptualized as a quasi-sovereignty. Furthermore, Shu Qun’s “Stateless People” also illustrates how Russians were treated as nationals who deserved some measure of legal protection. Despite the circumstances of their imprisonment, stateless people who were stripped of basic resources for living did not simply submit to death but performed their own agency and exercised their volition in the face of excruciating surveillance, ruthless interrogation, and physical violence. The article also analyzes the literary style of Shu Qin’s stories, in particular the use of rhetorical devices such as repetition and contrast to express a “life-or-death” struggle, a narrative that is ironically infused with the desire to live. The last part of this article discusses how the employment of classical Chinese poetry and songs in narrative in “Stateless People” and Orphan of Asia, conceptualized as “poetic alliance,” can be utilized as a common cultural channel for communicating between mainland Chinese and Taiwanese and thus helps to overcome the geographical and ethnic borderlines of the two peoples. By exploring the cultural significance of the colonial legacy of modern China and Taiwan, this study suggests that poetic alliance serves as a vital source for living and sharing, as long as human consciousness is coupled with willpower. Poetic alliance encompasses both the act of living and creative cultural potential; a shared, symbolic literary heritage can lead to the deconstruction of cultural barriers and ethnic borderlines.

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