(Sino)graphs in Franco(n)texts : The multilingual and the multimodal in Franco-Chinese literature and visual arts
(2021) 1. p.27-50- Abstract
- This chapter examines the aesthetic of the sinograph in the French-language novels, calligraphic works, and picture books by two first-generation Chinese migrant writers and artists in France, François Cheng and Shan Sa. It begins with an illustration of Cheng's and Shan's 'Chinese' calligraphic works (accompanied by the artists' French texts) (Et le Souffle devient signe: Portrait d’une âme à l’encre de Chine [2001] & Le Mirroir d’un calligraphe [2002]), and explicate their artistic sensibilities and visions informed by traditional Chinese aesthetic concepts, e.g. yin-yang, mountain-water, sentiment-scenery. These calligraphic images are then 'read' into their respective French novelistic fabric (Le Dit de Tianyi [1998] &... (More)
- This chapter examines the aesthetic of the sinograph in the French-language novels, calligraphic works, and picture books by two first-generation Chinese migrant writers and artists in France, François Cheng and Shan Sa. It begins with an illustration of Cheng's and Shan's 'Chinese' calligraphic works (accompanied by the artists' French texts) (Et le Souffle devient signe: Portrait d’une âme à l’encre de Chine [2001] & Le Mirroir d’un calligraphe [2002]), and explicate their artistic sensibilities and visions informed by traditional Chinese aesthetic concepts, e.g. yin-yang, mountain-water, sentiment-scenery. These calligraphic images are then 'read' into their respective French novelistic fabric (Le Dit de Tianyi [1998] & L’Impératrice [2003]). Our knowledge of the sinograph is key to the revelation of these writers' transcultural stylistic innovations and diegetic configurations, a kind of (in)visible multilingualism and multimodality beyond the obvious linguistic translation and lexical borrowing. Franco-Chinese writers and artists have a rather complex and sometimes paradoxical attitudes and relations to the Chinese script, especially facing a primarily francophone audience. Yet, I will argue that this conscious visual poeticization of/through the sinograph in the French language is still a defining aesthetic of Franco-Chinese literature and visual arts. While problematizing the notion of 'Chineseness' that is seemingly essentialized by the sinograph in diasporic Chinese literature and visual arts, I will also draw on the theories of ‘imagetext’ (Mitchell 1994) and ‘the translational’ (Tong King Lee 2013) to investigate the multilingual and multimodal aspects of cultural translation in the critical framework of World Literature. (Less)
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- author
- Li, Shuangyi LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- in press
- subject
- host publication
- Multilingual Literature as World Literature
- editor
- Hiddleston, Jane and Ouyang, Wen-chin
- volume
- 1
- edition
- 1
- pages
- 24 pages
- publisher
- Bloomsbury Academic
- ISBN
- 9781501360091
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b6621275-945e-4d0a-a8b7-301711412835
- date added to LUP
- 2021-03-24 23:58:30
- date last changed
- 2021-04-14 11:40:43
@inbook{b6621275-945e-4d0a-a8b7-301711412835,
abstract = {{This chapter examines the aesthetic of the sinograph in the French-language novels, calligraphic works, and picture books by two first-generation Chinese migrant writers and artists in France, François Cheng and Shan Sa. It begins with an illustration of Cheng's and Shan's 'Chinese' calligraphic works (accompanied by the artists' French texts) (Et le Souffle devient signe: Portrait d’une âme à l’encre de Chine [2001] & Le Mirroir d’un calligraphe [2002]), and explicate their artistic sensibilities and visions informed by traditional Chinese aesthetic concepts, e.g. yin-yang, mountain-water, sentiment-scenery. These calligraphic images are then 'read' into their respective French novelistic fabric (Le Dit de Tianyi [1998] & L’Impératrice [2003]). Our knowledge of the sinograph is key to the revelation of these writers' transcultural stylistic innovations and diegetic configurations, a kind of (in)visible multilingualism and multimodality beyond the obvious linguistic translation and lexical borrowing. Franco-Chinese writers and artists have a rather complex and sometimes paradoxical attitudes and relations to the Chinese script, especially facing a primarily francophone audience. Yet, I will argue that this conscious visual poeticization of/through the sinograph in the French language is still a defining aesthetic of Franco-Chinese literature and visual arts. While problematizing the notion of 'Chineseness' that is seemingly essentialized by the sinograph in diasporic Chinese literature and visual arts, I will also draw on the theories of ‘imagetext’ (Mitchell 1994) and ‘the translational’ (Tong King Lee 2013) to investigate the multilingual and multimodal aspects of cultural translation in the critical framework of World Literature.}},
author = {{Li, Shuangyi}},
booktitle = {{Multilingual Literature as World Literature}},
editor = {{Hiddleston, Jane and Ouyang, Wen-chin}},
isbn = {{9781501360091}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{27--50}},
publisher = {{Bloomsbury Academic}},
title = {{(Sino)graphs in Franco(n)texts : The multilingual and the multimodal in Franco-Chinese literature and visual arts}},
volume = {{1}},
year = {{2021}},
}