Dem Realismus ein Grab: Yan Liankes Shouhuo als “kleine Literatur”

Abstract

Burying realism: Yan Lianke’s Shouhuo as “minor literature”. Realism has come to occupy an important role not only in Chinese literary history but also in contemporary fiction that challenges the positivist assumptions underlying the “realist paradigm”. Yan Lianke, in his novel Shouhuo, tries to re-imagine the role of traditional cultural practices and their primary site of production, the countryside, through his version of a “minor literature”. The political dimension of his writings becomes particularly apparent when viewed in light of the assumptions underlying the neologism “culture slang”, which was coined by the authors of the controversial left-wing manifesto Unhappy China.