The Perception of Destiny and Contingency in the Works of Gao Xingjian, esp. the Work "One Man's Bible"
Dr. Wang Liying
Konstanz University, Linguistics and German Literature
Research stay: October 2010 – September 2011
The Perception of Destiny and Contingency in the Works of Gao Xingjian, esp. the Work "One Man's Bible"
Dr. Wang is contributing to and assisting in the preparation of the conference with Gao Xingjian in October 2011.
In her research, Wang is focusing on the question of how the experience of contingency during the time of the Cultural Revolution has been transferred into literature in Gao Xingjian's novel "One Man's Bible". Gao, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000, wrote the novel at the end of the 1990s in French exile – 10 years after the Cultural Revolution. In Wang's analysis the term "contingency" and the intellectual historical theorizations of the experience of contingency are embedded in a broader theoretical reflection: The concept of destiny and the one of contingency are analyzed as being mutually dependent. Contingency and destiny are thoroughly examined in both cultural spheres – China and Europe. The Cultural Revolution is being reviewed under the aspect of contingency experiences. Through this analysis, the impact of contingency experience in Gao's novel "One Man's Bible" will be elucidated.
back to "Modernity and Prognostication" Overview