The literature of fact: a study of the representations of Chinese society in some Australian fiction and non-fiction writings

Abstract

The present study argues for a generic approach to the study of the representation of Chinese society in a selection of Australian fiction and non-fiction writings, based on the assumption that how China is represented is as important as what is represented. The three works that will be used to represent travel literature, journalism and the novel are: The East Is Red by Maslyn Williams, Real Life China by Richard Thwaites, and the Avenue of Eternal Peace by Nicholas Jose, all of which have been written by contemporary Australian writers. The study re-examines the obligations and meanings inherent in each of these genres, and discusses .these writers' individual ways of experimenting with the genres in which they write in order to cope with the complexity, ambiguity, and the fictionality of reality. These works are analysed in detail within two frameworks: the writers' relationships to their writings, and the relationship between the text and the external world, leading to the realization of the increasingly important role writers' consciousness plays in reshaping and fictionalizing their personal experience, as well as the recognition of the increasingly important role fictionalization plays in the representation of Chinese society in both fiction and non-fiction writings.

Date of Award	1991
Original language	English
Supervisor	Satendra Nandan (Supervisor)