Abstract
This chapter is a brief study of the intertextual resonances between Brecht and Mao Zedong’s revolutionary and literary writings. Brecht, who followed Mao’s revolutionary practice and writings from 1930s to 1950s, merged his understanding of classical Chinese philosophy, especially those elements that he found compatible with his understanding of Western philosophy and aesthetics, into the framework of his Marxist ideology. During this incubation period of his Marxist ideology, Mao’s revolutionary career and practices seemed to have provided a promising exemplification of the Marxist prospect in Asia. The discussion of the interconnectivity of the Marxist ideologies of Brecht and Mao paves the way for a study of the intertextual resonances between Brecht’s literary/dramatic works (e.g., his poems “The Other Side” and “Thoughts While Flying over the Great Wall”) and Mao’s political and literary writings.
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Notes
- 1.
See Zhang Li’s article “Bulaixite yu Mao Zedong” [Brecht and Mao Zedong (Tse-tung)] for discussions of Brecht, and Mao, their similarities and differences in their Marxist ideology, with regards to socialist realism.
- 2.
Reprinted here with permission from Suhrkamp Verlag.
- 3.
English translation provided by Markus Wessendorf reprinted here with his permission.
- 4.
Here is a Chinese translation of the poem provided by Zhang Li, reprinted with his permission (in case anyone is interested in further comparing the three versions of the poem: the German original, the English translation, and this Chinese translation):
1934年, 内战的第八年, /蒋介石的飞机/向共产党人地区投掷传单, /悬赏毛泽东的人头。/鉴于纸张匮乏而思想丰富, /遭受谴责的毛/经过周密思考, /命人搜集一面印字的传单, /在空白一面印上有用的文字, /让它们在民众中流传。
- 5.
From 1930 to 1934, Jiang Jieshi-led Guomindang army launched five Extermination Campaigns (Daweijiao) in an attempt to wipe out the Communist forces. The Long March was the Red Army’s retreat from its base to break away from Chiang’s Nationalist party’s pursuit and attack; the march lasted from October 1934 to October 1936.
- 6.
Most likely 250,000 Yuan Shikai Dollars, or Yuan Big Head Coins (yuan datou), as the Guomindang government minted silver coins were popularly known then. It was the dominant currency in the government-controlled regions from the 1910s to the end of the 1940s. Its value fluctuated. For some years, one Yuan Big Head Coin could purchase as much as 30 jin (almost 40 pounds) of rice and sometimes considerably less. So, at its peak value, the 250,000 yuan prize Jiang Jieshi set on Mao could presumably purchase 7,500,000 jin (9,900,000 pounds) of rice. If a family of five consumes about five jin of rice per day, 1,825 jin of rice per year, that amount of rice could presumably last the family for about 4,100 years. For more about Yuan Big Head Coins, see https://baike.baidu.com/item/袁大头.
- 7.
I appreciate Anthony Squiers for suggesting the “gestic” effect in Mao’s poem.
- 8.
The year 1936 is commonly accepted as the exact year of Mao’s poem “Snow.” Earlier research assumed that Mao’s “Snow” was written on February 7, 1936, when Mao was in Qingjian County, north of Shaanxi province (陕西省). At that time, Mao was beginning the Eastern March, which occurred just after the Long March (October 1934–October 1935). However, some researchers believe that the poem was written on February 22, when Mao was in Shanxi Province (山西省). In an essay published in 2012, Sun Guoda argues that the time of creation should be February 1937 to celebrate the historical victory of Xi’an Incident, not February 1936. According to Sun, the poem was written in an airplane overlooking the northern scenery, not Qingjian County, north of Shaanxi Province. Sun indicates that his research is based on historical documents, such as the military journal kept by Tong Xiaopeng (Zhou Enlai’s confidential secretary), A Chronicle of Mao’s life (Mao Zedong Nianpu), and the memories of both soldiers and local villagers (139). Sun also researched detailed weather reports for February 1936 and found that there was no evidence that the weather had been cold enough to produce the ice and snow depicted in Mao’s poem.
- 9.
Quoted from Dai Zhengli’s article “Lun shici yingyi de shiyi jiangou: yi Mao Zedong shici qinyuanchun xue yingyi weili”, 75.
- 10.
This English translation is rendered by Xu Yuanchong, reprinted here with his permission. See Jingxuan Mao Zedong shici yu shiyihua (Illustrated Poems of Mao Zedong), translated by Xu Yuanchong (China Intercontinental Press, 2006).
- 11.
“The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, was a staged event engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the Japanese invasion in 1931 of northeastern China, known as Manchuria.” See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident.
- 12.
Culturally speaking, snakes and elephants do not carry the same symbolic meaning as in the West, for example, snakes as associated with evil, Satan, and so on; white elephants as associated with useless or troublesome possessions. Also, whereas “whiteness” in the West is often associated with purity, it is sometimes associated with emptiness in Chinese culture, as suggested in this line from the classical novel The Dream of Red Mansions sung to Bao Yu (the young protagonist) by Jing Huan Fairy (a goddess figure) that foretells how the novel will end for all the main characters: “好一似食尽鸟投林, 落了片白茫茫大地真干净.” (Just like when the food is gone all the birds flock back to the woods, leaving behind nothing but a vast white emptiness.)
- 13.
See “Fritz Jensen,” https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Jensen. See also Eva Barilich: Fritz Jensen. Arzt an vielen Fronten. Biografische Texte zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung 5; Wien, Globus 1991, ISBN 3853642136. The Chinese translation of the book, Yan Feide Zhuan (严斐德传), was published in 1992. See https://baike.baidu.com/item/严斐德传.
- 14.
In 1953, Fritz Jensen returned to China from where he traveled to Korea and Vietnam to write about events there. In April 1955, as correspondent of a German newspaper, he flew from Hong Kong to Bandung in Indonesia to report on the conference of Asian and African states (Bandung Conference). After five hours of flight, a time bomb exploded, killing Fritz Jensen along with ten other passengers—Chinese delegation members, journalists, and five of the eight crew members. See https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Jensen, and http://military.people.com.cn/GB/42964/3585262.html.
- 15.
Two other books of his were published around this time: Die Brücke von Berlin nach Peking (The bridge from Berlin to Beijing; 1951), Erlebtes Vietnam (Experienced Vietnam, 1955), and 30 Jahre Geschichte der Kommunistischen Partei Chinas (30 years of history of the Chinese Communist Party; translation from Chinese authored by Hu Qiaomu).
- 16.
See Jensen, Fritz’s Opfer Und Sieger: Nachdichtungen, Gedichte und Berichte. Dietz Verlag Berlin, 1955.
- 17.
English translation provided by Markus Wessendorf and reprinted here with his permission.
- 18.
Reprinted here with permission from Suhrkamp Verlag.
- 19.
English translation provided by Markus Wessendorf and reprinted here with his permission.
- 20.
Mao Zedong did fly from Yan’an to Chongqing on August 28, 1945, to hold talks with Jiang Jieshi about the future of China after the Japanese surrendered and WWII ended. Although a peace accord was finally signed on October 10 (Mao and his delegation returned to Yan’an the next day), civil war between the Communists and Nationalists would soon break out again. According to Shi Jie, Brecht was not accurate about the chronology of the Chongqing Negotiation (Chongqing Tanpan, August 29–October 10, 1945) when describing the context for his “translation” of Mao’s poem.
- 21.
The standard verse form of qinyuanchun has two stanzas, a total of 114 words (characters), the first stanza having 13 phrases; the second stanza 12; with very strict requirement of rhyming scheme and tonal distribution. There are five or six variations in verse form too. Mao Zedong’s “Snow” fits the standard verse form of qinyuanchun. See https://baike.baidu.com/item/沁园春/690827.
- 22.
See “Sonnet,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet.
- 23.
See “Liaoshen Campaign,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaoshen_Campaign.
Works Cited
Taylor, Jay. 2009. The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Esslin, Martin. 2004. The Theatre of the Absurd. Vintage.
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Zhang, W. (2020). Brecht and Mao Zedong: Two Sides of “The Other Side” and Twice Removed Vision of “Snow”. In: Chinese Adaptations of Brecht. Chinese Literature and Culture in the World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37778-6_6
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