Commercialization and Cultural Misreading in Dai Sijie's Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise

Abstract

This article engages with Dai Sijie's representation of Eastern and Western identities, their relationships, and misreading in light of the reception, best-sellerization, and film adaptation of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. These various modes of commercialization add layers of cultural consumption and exploitation to the ones Dai sets up in his comparative approach between French Realist literature and Chinese culture. The reception of the novel stresses both the attraction of an exotic world and the universal qualities of Dai's homage to European literature. While the book was packaged as a universal story about reading, love and personal development, Dai problematizes such universal lessons and warns against the limitations of partial readings. Hence, the reception and promotion of the book are ironically contrary to the novel's own message.