Viewing China from the “Screen”: An Analysis of Scenery Writing On a Chinese Screen

Abstract

The duration around 1920s has witnessed a profound transition in Chinese history. During this period, quite a few writers at home and abroad have contributed their writing in diversified focuses to represent this change. As a distinguished English writer in the 20th century, Maugham is no exception. He is well known as an adept at analyzing multi-dimensional aspects of human nature, which is also employed to his exotic writing. To supplement the study of this front, the present paper takes a close reading of his travelogue On a Chinese Screen. By making an analysis of Maugham’s scenery writing, a tentative conclusion is that Chinese scenery images are glanced from screens, which is closely related to the impact of picturesque art and his identification with his homeland. It is hoped that the study would deepen readers’ understanding of Maugham’s exotic writing as well as their insights into the relationship between Chinese image writing and identification.