Romancing Atrocity

Abstract

Originally published in 1996, Nanjing 1937: A Love Story (Yijiusanqinian de aiqing) is a historical novel set against the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. The novel traces the unconventional romance between university professor Ding Wenyu and a young married woman, Ren Yuyuan. This paper examines the novel’s creative juxtaposition between the love story of the main protagonists and the impending war story as the Japanese army approach the capital, which Ye Zhaoyan conflates through his use of language and narrative strategies. The article also reveals the ways in which this historical novel simultaneously functions as rich compendium of references and homages to several canonical works in modern Chinese literary history. Adapted from A History of Pain: Trauma in Modern Chinese Literature and Film by Michael Berry. Copyright © 2008 Michael Berry. Used by arrangement with Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.