ABSTRACT
Qian Zhongshu’s labyrinthine satirical novel Fortress Besieged (围城, 1947) is punctuated with a multitude of references to Chinese and Western literature, philosophy, logic, customs, educational systems, foreign languages, and feminism.2 Throughout the novel’s cyclical structure, Qian returns time and again to the contrast between those who blindly embrace the technologically advanced civilizations of the West and those who dogmatically cling to the obsolete traditions of China’s ancient past. Nowhere is the blind embrace of Western culture clearer than in the pretensions of the wealthy Shanghai comprador Jimmy Chang who, as his name suggests, frequently peppers his discourse with snippets of American slang. This reaches its apotheosis when he calls out to his wife using the word ‘headache’. As he explains to the protagonist, Fang Hung-chien, “ ‘Headache’ is an American expression for ‘wife’, not ‘pain in the head’! I guess you haven’t been to the States”. (Qian 2006: 48-9) Chang may have grasped the double meaning of the word but has only a superficial knowledge of the cultural context. Consequently he does not connect the literal meaning to the latent content and fails to note the derogatory tone.
