Finding Meaning in the Surreal Landscapes of Can Xue

Finding Meaning In the Surreal Landscapes of

Can Xue

An Interpretive Paper on Can Xue's

'Hut on the Mountain'

Aimee Lamb

ID#5627176

Aimee Lamb

MCHI 310/4

Final Paper

Can Xue - Hut On The Mountain

This paper will provide a comprehensive view of one of the most mystifying stories written in modern Chinese literature. 'Hut on the Mountain' by Can Xue seems to follow a strange path, as though it is written cryptically. Though from the muddled prose can be drawn purpose and deep meaning behind the metaphors and strange combination of ideas that the author puts forward. In this paper, I will take a close look at the more strange ideas in this story, and attempt to make some sense out of them, as well as review any historical significance and interpretations of others in comparison with my own. Firstly, however, a bit about the author must be revealed for it may influence some later interpretations of the story.

Can Xue, born in 1953, lived her early life during the cultural revolution with her eccentric grandmother. The unconventional way in which her grandmother behaved had an effect on Can Xue, and influence much of her later writings, hence the surreal landscapes and strange idea organization.(chinaculture 1) She is the most dominant female in the avant-garde school of Chinese literature. It is often unknown that she is indeed a woman, because her pen-name suggests otherwise. In an interview with Can Xue by Laura McCandlish, she mentions that critics often dislike or disregard her work, not only because of her gender, but also because of the confusing nature of it. She claims many just do not understand what it is actually about. She also expresses her own disdain for literature that deals too much with the external world, politics and superficial topics. The interview alludes to the fact that the abstractness of her work is focusing on the landscapes of the soul and the deepest recesses of the mind. She mentions that her main audience, she hopes, are people under thirty years old, because she hopes to emphasize the 'beauty of the soul world' as opposed to a more realistic world. Like her predecessor, Lu Xun, she also believes that it is necessary to change society through the healing of the mind and the soul, rather than more concrete ambitions.(Xue Int. 1)

Before going in depth on the meaning behind the story 'Hut on the Mountain', the basics must first be dealt with. The following details will be an outline of the concrete elements in the story, though these elements are not actually referring to concrete things, but rather elements of the mind and internal events. The short story is narrated by a single person, most likely female because at a certain point in the story the narrator catches a glimpse of what is most likely her own reflection, and it is a woman. There are few other characters in this book, though they are quite present and influential throughout. The three main supporting characters are Mother, Father, and Little Sister. A less present character is the man in the hut on the mountain. Though the man in the hut is less obviously portrayed, this character will play a major role in the interpretation of the story later on.

The story takes place in a family dwelling, in which the narrator, Father, Mother and Little Sister all live. The landscape is extremely surreal and subject to shifts and changes at any moment. Aside from the surreal, the story shows the interactions of a highly dysfunctional family over the period of a few days. There seems to be a feeling of distrust among the characters, and they all seem to tread carefully around each other. In each character a strong trait is shown. Mother is exceedingly impatient and critical, while Father seems susceptible to the woes of the household. Sister seems the most grounded, yet seems to provide explanations about the reality of the situations, and true feelings of each character. The narrator is coexisting with a family that seems to counteract or ignore every situation and action the narrator engages it. The narrator is constantly repeating tasks that her family members have undone.

These apparently concrete elements are actually representative of completely non-concrete ingredients. The only constant, and perhaps concrete element is the narrator herself. The story is a landscape of her mind, and the troubles that are returning to haunt her. Throughout the story she is 'combing her consciousness', or healing her mind. She is at first unsuccessful, though she knows what it is she must do. There are various elements that are important to the story: the drawers, the hut, cold sweats and fear, digging and hiding, the scissors and the well, as well as the roles of Mother, Father and Little sister and what they really represent. Due to the complicated nature of this story, it must be deconstructed, piece by piece, only then to be brought together by a uniting element.

The story opens with the statement 'On the bleak and barren mountain behind our house stood a wooden hut. Day after day I busied myself by tidying up my desk drawers...'(Xue 325) It is within her home that she is tidying up these drawers, ignoring the aforementioned hut in the background on the mountain. These desk drawers have significant meaning. Drawers in surrealism and certain philosophies of the mind have often been a metaphor for compartments of the mind that can only be opened through introspection and psychoanalysis. In this work by Can Xue, the drawers represent the narrator's own introspection. In this case the drawers seem not to contain the deepest recesses of the mind, but the bits of information of day to day life for the narrator. The mother threatens that she will never get done, that the sorting is useless. The mother is a demon, the voice of the devil on the narrator's shoulder, trying to create obstacles so the narrator will give up and let the disorder swallow her whole.

The narrator then responds by describing her annoyances with the constant disturbances in the night. This is an argument towards her mother's discouraging advice. The narrator explains that every time she 'turn(s) on the light I can see countless tiny holes poked by fingers in the window screens' (Xue 325). This refers to the fact that she although she is constantly sorting through the drawers during the day, at night all her thoughts seem to be put into disarray again. The annoyance is focused at her mother for even suggesting she ignore