1940년대 중국현대소설에 나타난
신여성 ‘아내’ 서술의 일면 — 《霜叶红似二月花》와 《寒夜》를 중심으로

Abstract

This study reviews the meaning of ‘wife’ in 1940s through the narrative of healthy wife and sick husband shown in 《Leaves be Red like February Flower(霜叶红似二月花)》 and 《Cold Nights(寒夜)》. The method is different, but both of two works are embodying the traditional femininity such as care and dedication ideally through the new woman wife’s respond type on the sick husbands. This new woman wife implies the meaning as follows. First, 1940s is the time when the discourse that idealizes the traditional femininity amid the dispute of ‘woman to home’ encounters with literature. Second, it is the space that visualizes the desire for the reconstruction desire for something Chinese amid the face of foreign powers. Finally, it is an objectified space for intellectual men who have lost their hegemonic masculinity to recover their masculinity in semi-colonized China. That is, it can be said the narrative of healthy wife and sick husband shown in 《霜叶红似二月花》 and 《寒夜》 is the narrative of desire to reconstruct the traditional Chinese culture in 1940s, and the narrative of desire to recover the masculinity of intellectual men. What I want to point out is the uniqueness of women’s lives is neglected in these narrative. However, neglecting the uniqueness of women’s lives belongs to the woman herself by MaoDun and BaJin’s putting the ‘choice’ of a new woman wife at the forefront. In this process, it is a shame that the in-depth description about whether the new woman wife’s ‘choice’ was given by the times in the name of ‘choice’ is lacking.