The Construction of the Image /Myth of a Martyr in the Cultural Revolution: An Interpretation/Demythicization of The Song of Ouyang Hai
Jin Jingmai’s novel The Song of Ouyang Hai was published in 1965 and became extremely popular in 1966 right before the launch of the Cultural Revolution. It can be regarded as a prelude to Cultural Revolution literature. The novel epitomizes the transition from the politically inclined “seventeen-year literature” (1949–66) to the highly politicalized “Cultural Revolution literature” (1966–76). It is also the perfect embodiment of the creation of the myth of a socialist martyr. In this article, I attempt to examine the features of socialist martyrs and decode the construction of the myth of such martyrs by exploring motifs such as diaries, letters, and the performative bodies in The Song of Ouyang Hai as well as related works and posters that feature revolutionary and socialist martyrs from the 1960s. The article also examines how the constant revisions of the novel driven by the political power struggles during and after the Cultural Revolution complicate and adumbrate the myth of the socialist martyr.
The Freudian subject and the Maoist mind: the diaries of Hermine Hug-Hellmuth and Lei Feng.
Although written in vastly different cultural contexts and periods, Hermine Hug-Hellmuth's "Diary of a Young Girl" (1919) and Lei Feng's "The Diary of Lei Feng" (1963) both to a large extent were written as concept pieces, with the goal of illustrating specific theories of the self. In the case of Hug-Hellmuth, the underlying theory is the Freudian sexualized unconscious mind, whereas for Lei Feng, it is Maoist revolutionary optimism. Additionally, both diaries have unusually strong inauthentic or 'fake' aspects. Although Hug-Hellmuth never admitted to writing the diary, most critics believed it came from her pen. Lei Feng's diary was revised through his own attempts to present himself as politically progressive, by editors, and through successive political movements that focused on the person behind the diary and made him one of the most widely-recognized figures in China. As such, the diaries are excellent windows into powerful and long-lasting ideological constructs.
Shoeless Joe: Fantasy and the Humor of Fellow-Feeling
In his essay on Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, Thomas Carlyle writes of a humor that manifests itself in smile rather than laughter. "Richter is a man of mirth," says Carlyle, whose humor is "capricious . . . quaint . . . [and] heartfelt" (15). The three adjectives represent for Carlyle the essence of what he terms "true humor" because they suggest Richter's enormous respect for humanity. "True humor," he goes on to say, "springs not more from the head than from the heart; it is not contempt, its essence is love; it issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper" (17). These smiles are not Hobbesian smirks of superiority1 but genuine signs of compassion for, sympathy toward, and empathy with the object of the humor. Carlyle further provides a direct link between humor and both pathos and nobility; the link is the smile of the caring man. For Carlyle, this smile is one of "fellow-feeling":