2 This incident is to be found at the beginning of Chapter 62 in Jin Shengtan's edition.
158 appears before him and reproves him. Lu begins to cry. At this point he wakes, hears conversation outside his window, realises that he has been dreaming and that he is in fact at Liangshanbo. He closes his eyes and returns to his dreams. He dreams he is drinking and feasting with his fellow bandits. Suddenly there are shouts to the effect that imperial troops are on their way. He tries to draw his sword but discovers he is bound, as are the other 107 bandits. (This incident is exactly the same as that to be found in Jin Shengtan's account
Lu Junyi is to blame for the arrival of the imperial forces. The other bandits look at Lu Junyi accusingly. Lu expresses puzzlement about his supposed treachery. At this point Lu's dream becomes a melange of tangled threads; his father is weeping beside him; Grand Secretary Liang is sitting in judgement over them; the bandits begin to cry; Song Jiang's ^ J- head rolls on to the ground. As the executioners approach him,
Lu cries out and he wakes from his dream. With great relief he realises that it has only been a dream after all and he reproves himself for thinking too much.
In Jin Shengtan's version of Lu Junyi's dream there is no reassurance given to the reader that Lu Junyi's dream is only a dream, since Lu does not wake up from his dream when the axe descends upon his neck. Zhang therefore takes the story one step forward by pointing out the delusory nature of Lu Junyi's dream. Zhang's purpose in doing this is apparently to point out a lesson; waking in horror from his nightmare, Lu Junyi is immensely relieved that his dream was only a dream and the reader is presumably meant to imagine that Lu will now come to terms with his life in the robber band at Liangshanbo and dispense with his remorse about the past. Comparison of Zhang's story with Jin Shengtan's version shows that Zhang
simultaneously recounts the same material as the original,
interprets the original and expands on it, and treads new ground primarily by showing Lu Junyi's dream to be 'in fact' a dream. What then was Zhang's purpose in taking a well-known story, a popular character from a popular novel, and adapting both to new ends?
I believe that a clue to Zhang's purpose lies in the symbol or motif of the dream itself- During the course of 'The Dream1 Lu Junyi wonders again and again if the horrors of his recent past are not after all only a dream. At one point, the omniscient narrator informs the reader:
These events seemed just like a dream •••«
Perhaps as soon as he woke, he would still be sleeping in his own home in Beijing, with his wife lying beside h i m , ....
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During the course of 'The Dr e a m 1, Lu Junyi moves from wishing that reality would prove to be only a dream, to being relieved that his nightmare is in fact, only a nightmare and not a reality. From this it is possible to surmise that Zhang was treating of current attitudes amongst the educated classes to loyalty to a cause (presumably the Communist cause) and the problems such people faced in coming to terms with the reality of their situation. To surmise any further than this is dangerous and cannot be supported by evidence in the text. Zhang's story allows the possibility that it is an allegory about those
amongst Zhang's contemporaries who found themselves outside the law as a result of their political activities but is at the same time sufficiently inexplicit as to avoid arousing the ire of Nationalist censors.
On a technical level, Zhang's 'The Dream' does attempt to retain the distinctive flavour of the original story. Dialogue, especially, recalls The Water Margin and some sentences have been lifted directly from the original, for example, Shi Xiu's
impassioned tirade against Grand Secretary Liang:
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reproduces exactly a line to be found in Chapter 62 of JinShengtan's version. Much of the description, however, as exemplified by the opening sentence of the story:
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out of the dark blue sky, and let through a layer of purplish grey.
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Zhang's first ma.jor exposure of social injustice — *Back and Breasts'.
'Back and Breasts* A M 4 - made its appearance on the literary scene not in magazine form but as No.58 of a series of 10 cent volumes published by the Liangyou Publishing Company ^ ^ ff) ^ /f^'J ^ , Shanghai on 19 February 1933* The story is set against a back ground of village life and both the content and setting bear resemblances to Lu Xun's story 'New Year Sacrifice1
the kidnapping of Ren san sao 'fi. JEL has parallels in the kidnapping of Xianglin sao ; and the atmos phere in Zhang's fictional village is not unlike that in Lu Xun's imaginary composite village Luzhen ^ 'fjf? ,
The story is divided into six numbered sections and there is a rumbustious first-person narrator who makes only rare appearances to interrupt the narrative and when he does he uses a style reminiscent of the old story-teller, a style which we have already seen Zhang use in earlier works like One Year and
'The Leather Belt'.
The story opens with villagers gossiping about Ren san sao who has achieved notoriety by leaving her husband and eloping with a farmer from another nearby village. She has already had a daughter by this farmer. The reader's attention is then directed to Zhangtaiye , the senior member
of Ren san's clan and thus the person ultimately responsible for enforcing standards of morality amongst members of his family* The narrator, in directing the reader's attention to Zhangtaiye, introduces the ensuing drama with something akin to the self-satisfied glee of a professional conjurer:
Everybody /"the village gossips_7 returned home to wait: there would be a play to watch* Just you see, Zhangtaiye will certainly have a part.
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There follows a delightful description of Zhangtaiye exhibiting all kinds of nervous tv/itches as he lays his plans to secure the sexual favours of Ren san sao. Time and again the narrator observes Zhangtaiye picking his teeth, his legs twitching involuntarily when crossed. He goes over in his mind his earlier attempts to court Ren san sao. His first approach had been to tweak her cheek, but this only provoked angry curses. Deciding on a more subtle approach he had tried to win her over by offering her a jade ring. This too failed. Hypocritically he condemned her behaviour for not measuring up to old-fashioned codes of morality of which he demonstrably takes no notice.
The second section opens with the news that Ren san sao has been kidnapped and brought back to the village. Feigning ignorance of the details of the kidnap, the narrator invites the reader to go to the Deyilou teahouse
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and listen to White-eyed Miao , the manager of the teahouse, describe the sequence of events:
I am not very clear about what method they used to seize her. Gentle readers if you want to know, then I must ask you to go to the Deyilou teahouse and listen to manager White-eyed Miao's description.
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The narrator then sinks into the background and gives way to a dramatic presentation of White-eyed Miao's story. This is
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not a monologue but rather a dramatised conversation between the manager of the teahouse and some of his customers. The reader learns that Ren san sao's relatives have succeeded in bringing her together with her daughter back to the village.
In the third section Zhangtaiye organises a council of relatives who mete out summary justice on Ren san sao. Zhang taiye instructs Ren san to remove his wifefs outer garments and lash her one hundred times. After the first hundred lashes, she is asked if she will agree never to return to her lover in the neighbouring village. She refuses to give such an assurance and the beating continues. When she swoons, they bring her round by pouring cold water on her, but she still will not agree to what is asked of her. The beating goes on until several of the relatives are weeping uncontrollably and Ren san can beat her no more.
In the fourth section we learn that after her beating she does not utter a word for two months. Then suddenly she regains her old self and begins to behave just as she used to. Zhangtaiye still bent on securing her sexual favours bides his time and finds an opportunity to accost her. She treats him with polite condescension. Zhangtaiye has decided in the meantime that if he is to woo her successfully he must give her lace which she is fond of. He gives her three pieces of lace, prevented by his own meanness from giving five pieces as he had originally intended. He takes an opportunity to fondle her as he stuffs the lace into her pocket since her hands are full with the rice she has just been washing, Ren san sao runs off saying that in a few days time she will give Zhangtaiye an answer.
In the fifth section Zhangtaiye- plots with White-eyed Miao to secure Ren san sao for his private delectation. Ren san owes Zhangtaiye a large sum of money, so Zhangtaiye sends
White-eyed Miao to inform Ren san that he is calling in the loan at the end of the month, knowing full well that Ren san has no means to repay him.
going round the village. A beggar from the neighbouring village where Ren san sao's lover lives called on her and
delivered a message. Ren san is worried by this because he is afraid that the possible surety for his debt may be planning to run away. He goes with White-eyed Miao to ask Zhangtaiye if he will agree to take Ren san sao in exchange for cancelling the debt. Zhangtaiye pretends that he is horrified by the
impropriety of this suggestion. A compromise is reached whereby Ren san sao is to wait upon Zhangtaiye whenever he needs her services in return for an extension of the repayment term of the debt. In this way Zhangtaiye thinks to have his way v/ith Ren san sao whilst maintaining respectability in the eyes of the other villagers. Zhangtaiye fondles her on a few occasions before arranging to meet her at a romantic spot after dark. Eventually Ren san sao arrives for the rendezvous and Zhangtaiye immediately starts to paw her. When he becomes
excited she hits him over the head and runs off shouting insults at him. The next day, the villagers find that Ren san sao together with her lover and baby girl have all disappeared. Zhangtaiye, mad with anger, blames Ren san for letting his wife run off and clamours for the repayment of the debt.
This story is by turns amusing, shocking and moving. The narrative is skilfully controlled by the narrator who occasion ally makes dramatic intrusions on the narration. These I have illustrated above in my resum£ of the plot. The effect of these intrusions is to establish a conspiratorial relationship between reader and narrator; metaphorically the narrator is at the reader's elbow nudging him/her every time the narrator wishes
to draw his/her attention to some aspect of the narration or story. Consider, for instance, this example from the narrative and the narrator's interpolated remarks that appear immediately after iti
As soon as Ren san sao be brought back they certainly must whip her till the flesh is raw on her back.
You'll say he must go 'humph' again, won't you — Is he angry?
No.
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Zhang goes to some trouble to draw the reader into the act of narration, giving the reader the impression that he/she has a vital part to play in the dramatic unveiling of the story.
It was for this 'failing1 that Wang Shuming in a review of
1
One Year reproved Zhang soundly. Wang without quoting chapter or verse suggested that Zhang's style of narration (addressing the reader directly and interrupting the narrative to make choice comments) was imitative of examples to be found in contemporary Western fiction. In almost the same breath Wang also suggested that Zhang had taken on the mantle of the story-teller in trad itional vernacular fiction with the intention of making his works more acceptable to the ordinary reading public brought up on an almost exclusive diet of vernacular fiction I'c> <J' I'ft* • Be the value of Wang's criticisms as it may, what does seem
certain is that Zhang was concerned about the readers of his works and was aware of the relationship that could and did exist between author, author/narrator, work and reader in his stories.
'Back and Breasts' is significant in Zhang's development as a writer of fiction for various other reasons. One distinctive aspect of Zhang's description of characters, is the isolation of an idiosyncrasy (a speech impediment, a nervous twitch, a gesture, a favourite word or speech pattern) and during the course of a story Zhang would seize on this or that example of idiosyncratic behaviour and reiterate it frequently until it almost comes to stand as a cipher, representing the character who exhibits it. This tendency in Zhang's character descriptions is exhibited in
the novel One Year where Bai Muyi's cousin Bai Jun has the habit of suggesting that there are two reasons for his thinking or doing something, but when he has specified the first reason,