Newman Huo

IS Eileen Chang a great writer? Will more of her literary works be read after her readers have watched the Golden Lion award-winning film, “Lust, Caution,” which is based on a short novel with the same title by the late Chinese writer? Chen Zishan, professor of Chinese language and literature of the East China Normal University in Shanghai and expert in the study of Eileen Chang, asked audiences such questions during a lecture on Eileen Chang and her novel “Lust, Caution” at the Shenzhen Concert Hall on Sunday.

“I wish people who have watched the film but haven’t read the short novel can spare some time to read it and delve into Chang’s own depiction of human nature in her short novel,” Chen said.

Chen believes Taiwan director Ang Lee’s erotic spy thriller presents his own special reading of Chang’s view of human nature embodied in the novel.

According to Chen, it took Chang more than 20 years, from 1951 or ‘53 through 1977, to complete her 10,000-Chinese-word psychological fiction, which revolves around a female Chinese student bent on killing a powerful political figure who collaborated with invading Japanese forces during World War II.

Since it was first published in 1978 in Taiwan, the short novel had been neglected by both critics and readers worldwide until it was picked up by Taiwan-born director Lee.

“So far, there are at least five approaches to interpret Chang’s short novel, which include the socio-literary approach, structuralist analysis, feminist approach, historical method of investigation and Lee’s reading through film-making,” Chen said.

“In fact, Lee understands very well not all novels by Chang can be made into films,” Chen said. “But he is a very smart film director, who has the power of seeing into the dramatic plot embedded in Chang’s short novel and has the very capacity to use the Hollywood style of film-making to present this plot,” he said.

Chen believes today it is not necessary for readers to compare Lee’s film strictly with Chang’s novel.

“Based on his own experiences, Lee has his own right to express his own reading of Chang’s novel through the medium of film,” he said.

Chen said there had been many different, even contradicting, readings of Chang and her works since she came to fame as a short story writer and novelist in Shanghai in the 1940s.

In one essay in the early 1940s, Chang said her own principle for novel writing was “an uneven and vibrant structure of contrast,” but “not a distinct contrast between goodness and evil and between flesh and soul.”

Chen believes Chang had put her principle for novel writing to the extreme in her short story “Lust, Caution.”

“In Chang’s eyes, ‘lust’ stands for a human being’s instinct or perceptual knowledge while ‘caution,’ (stands for) reason or rational knowledge,” said Chen.

“Chang has particularly used a comma to separate the two words in her book title, showing both are an integral part of human beings, and hold an equally important place in them,” he explained.

“In her short novel, through the intricate contrast between flesh and soul and between instinct and reason, Chang’s purpose is to expose the complicated state of human nature in real life,” Chen said.

Today, many people believe Chang’s short novel was based on a historical event: the failed assassination of Ding Mocun (1903-1947) — a Chinese traitor who collaborated with Japanese invaders — by the 22-year-old spy Zheng Pingru (1918-1940), in Shanghai on Dec. 21, 1939.

“Today, based on my own research and study, it is very hard for me to make such a conclusion,” Chen said.

“Chang’s short novel is neither a true story nor a makeup by the writer,” Chen said.

“In fact, during the 24 years of working on the story, Chang had made use of many materials, including the story of her Taiwanese friend Song Qi and even her own life experience with her first Chinese husband, Hu Lancheng,” Chen said.

Chen admits, so far, he has watched only the censored version of Lee’s steamy film which opened on the Chinese mainland last month minus much of the on-screen sex and other scenes.

Although Lee has made a great effort in restoring historical truth in his film, prudent moviegoers can still find some faults in the details, according to Chen.

As Chen pointed out, the first defect occurs in the beginning scenes of the film as four jewel-bedecked ladies slap down tiles in a fierce-looking game of mahjong.

“Unfortunately, the Chinese characters on the mahjong (tiles) are in simplified style, which could never happen in Hong Kong in the 1940s, because the simplified characters began to be used only on the Chinese mainland in the late 1950s,” Chen said.

The second defect occurs with the box carrying the brand name “Cartier” that goes with the 6 ct. diamond ring which the heroine Wang Jiazhi accepted from Mr. Yi. “I don’t understand how Cartier, a modern brand name for the renowned French jeweler and watchmaker, could appear on the Bund in Shanghai in the 1940s,” Chen said.

Despite such small faults in details, Chen still believes Lee’s film is a masterpiece.

“Lee has successfully used the Hollywood style of film-making to interpret Chang’s controversial novel, and his film has caused a resurgence of worldwide attention on Chang and her works,” Chen said.

Chen believes Chang is one of the two most important female Chinese writers in the 20th century along with Xiao Hong.

“Different from Xiao, who came from the countryside, Chang was from the big city of Shanghai,” Chen said. “If people continue to read Chang’s writings in 50 years, history will prove Chang is a great writer,” Chen concluded.