Post-colonial Literature for Children – EDU32PLCWeek 8 Lecture 15

Chinese Cinderella and Criteria for Judging Post-

colonial Literature

© La Trobe University, David Beagley, 2006

Criteria for judging literature

Why?• All analysis is judgement. By interpreting and

placing into our personal frames of reference, we choose, accept, reject, edit, measure and judge.

What criteria?• Depends what you are doing with your

judgement: Review and recommendation Argument to establish belief Personal aesthetic experience

Criteria for judging literature

Schemes of interpretation: structures and frameworks around which we analyse an item or idea

Example - Four Approaches for Traditional Literature:

• Psychological - dealing with the personality, emotions and identity of an individual

• Structural - how the techniques of literary creation shape the reader’s response

• Sociological - what can be understood of our own society from the elements and features of the story

• Archetypal - the cues and clues that keep recurring here, there and everywhere

Criteria for judging post-colonial literature

Post-colonial literature is defined by:• Its political focus• Its relation to current and past society• Its literary presentationTherefore, criteria could include schemes

such as:• Literary techniques• Themes and ideas• Political interpretations• Historical aspects

Chinese Cinderella - Literary

Structures that define this piece of literature

• Auto-biography• Therefore 1st person authorial/character voice,

and personal perspective• Non-fiction, prose• Chronological, yet episodic (non-narrative)• Reference to traditional motifs and symbols

Chinese Cinderella - Thematic

Family relationships:• Parent/child• Stepmother/stepdaughter• Siblings• Extended family• Secrets

Chinese Cinderella - Thematic

Personal survival:• Individuality• Identity• Resilience• Friends• Gender• Sources of strength

Chinese Cinderella - Political

Post-colonial interactions:• Chinese - European

– Traditional culture and expectations vs introduced fashions and formats

– Rigid and predictable structures vs individuality and personal whims

• Niang as Coloniser of the family - exploiting its resources and making arbitrary judgements to suit herself and her descendents

Chinese Cinderella - Historical

Period of immense turmoil in Chinese history:

• European colonisation and exploitation • Japanese invasion• Nationalist/Communist battle for controlAdeline as symbol of China: • helpless and exploited• but maintaining identity and resilience until

the opportunity to assert independence arrives

Criteria for judging literature

• In all these schema, an analyst must determine how successfully the work achieves its purpose according to the limits and nature of those specific criteria

• The criteria are perspectives, points of view, from which judgements and interpretations can be made. They are possibilities.

Criteria for judging literature

• They provide a structure, a vocabulary and a range of options that you (the analyst) may choose to use to explore and explain a piece of literature.

• They are NOT mutually exclusive. There may be considerable overlap between the interpretations.

• They are NOT the only possibilities.