Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2018

Ambiguous Identity and the Loss of Self: Rereading Fan Xiaoqing’s Female Comrade

(Abstract)

Zhang Ji

Female Comrade is one representative work of Fan Xiaoqing noteworthy of its bold and avant-garde explorative spirit. Using a naturalistic narrative strategy, Fan presents the legendary story of three men and one woman, painting an absurd picture of Wan Li, a typical “female comrade” in a government courtyard, who loses herself due to the constraints of worldly desires, living conditions and culture, etc.. The novel portrays the overall picture and real crisis of “successful women” while refraining from moral judgment or sentimentality. Fan faithfully expressed her serious concerns about the tragedy of the female personality  on the backdrop of the problematique of “new woman.” It provides not only an aesthetic experience but also an inspiration of literary creation, which has its significance for reality as well as the literary history.