Nguyns Tale of Kiu as Post-colonial Classic

Copyright 2003 Dennis Redmond One of the most intriguing features of the dawning 21 st century has been the convergence of postcolonialism understood in the broadest sense of the term! as a cultural condition! political con"uncture! and economic situation! all at once with #uite another concept$turned$ periodi%ation& namely! postmodernism' (ore is at sta)e here than the oft$remar)ed *irst +orldi%ation of the ,hird +orld! the ,hird +orldi%ation of the *irst! and the disappearance of the -econd' +hat is at issue is the emergence of a multinational world$system very different indeed from its Cold +ar antecedents! everywhere from the geopolitics of the .uropean /nion to the economic might of .ast 0sia! and from the rise of a post$0merican media culture to the construction of the informatic commons' 1n retrospect! much of the broad appeal of the postmodernisms and postcolonialisms was derived from their capacity to thin) beyond the usual categories of the Cold +ar most famously! as 2ameson3s pro"ect of the cognitive mapping of the cultural logic of consumer capitalism! and as -piva)3s meditation on the subaltern or *ourth +orld peoples who! although e4cluded from the demesne of the nation$state! understood the total system well enough to turn the latter3s logic against itself! everywhere from the "ungles of Chiapas to the riverban)s of the 5armada' +hat we have lac)ed! however! are conceptual instruments capable of triangulating between the postmodern and the postcolonial! and thereby rising to the concrete level of the multinational' 0s late as the mid$1670s! the wor) of postcolonial thin)ers such as .dward -aid and 8ayatri -piva) remained firmly anchored in a specifically national political and cultural conte4t! i'e' the desperate struggle of occupied 9alestine and neocoloni%ed 1ndia for national survival! and the identity$politics of a utopian ,hird +orld nationalism! respectively' Conversely! *redric 2ameson3s thesis of postmodernism as the cultural logic of consumer capitalism too) the hegemonic /- media culture of the late 16:0s as its starting$point postmodernism was the halfway house! as it were! between theories of 16;0$style 0mericani%ation and those of 1660s$ style neoliberali%ation' 9ut another way! the leading theories of the 1670s were primarily accounts of the locali%ations which preceded globali%ation& 2ameson3s brea)through essay on postmodernism! for instance! diagnosed the multinational corporate atrium out of the spatiali%ed ,hatcherism of the <onaventura =otel! while -piva)3s subaltern crac)les with the micropolitical energies of the neocolonial favelas the destitute mass of female laborers! landless peasants! and *ourth +orld peoples spawned by decades of the most brutal neoliberal mar)eti%ation! not yet conscious of their class identity or capable of organi%ing a pro"ect of resistance in the mold of 9orto 0legre' ,he hallmar) of the 1660s! on the other hand! was the emergence of new types of multinational solidarity! capable of combating neoliberalism on its own global turf' ,he post$ colonial reflections of 0i"i% 0hmad! 8ayatri -piva)! 5gugi wa ,hiong3o and .nri#ue Dussel were very much the transcendental pole of this resistance! precisely where the postmodern meditations of *redric 2ameson! 9ierre <ourdieu and -lavo" >i%e) carried the banner of the immanent resistance' 0 stri)ingly similar dynamic can be observed in the cultural field! where the stupendous achievements of post$colonial writers! directors and media artists such as .gypt3s 5aguib (ahfou%! China3s Can ?ue! -enegal3s Ousmane -embene! 1ran3s 0bbas @iarostami and 9oland3s @r%ys%tof @ieslows)i demolished the prison$house of the Cold +ar media culture from 1

without! precisely where the radical postmodernisms of 8ermany3s =einer (Aller! 1reland3s 9atric) (c8oohan! 5orthamerica3s +illiam 8ibson and 2apan3s =ayao (iya%a)i bored into the mediatic infrastructures of the /- .mpire from within' ,his is not to argue that the rift between postmodernism and postcolonialism! or more precisely! between theories of *irst +orld consumerism and theories of ,hird +orld neocolonialism! was a mere optical illusion or false problem' ,his rift mar)ed a genuine social fault$line! the functional e#uivalent of what *redric 2ameson called! in a rather different conte4t! the problem of the Bvanishing mediatorC in (a4 +eber3s concept of rationali%ation' ,his latter e4pressed the insoluble ideological contradiction between the brittle class compromise of the +ilhelmine politics of iron and rye! and 8erman capital3s subaltern position vis$D$vis the <ritish! *rench and 0merican competition' Rationali%ation is! in short! what you get when liberal capitalism and its historical agent! the <ritish .mpire! reigned but no longer ruled over the world$system! and a rather different logic begins to assert itself over the world$mar)et& the arrival of bureaucrati%ed corporations and monopoly capitalism' ,he Bvanishing mediatorC of the multinational era! on the other hand! is without #uestion the /- .mpire! which has declined from the undisputed economic and cultural hegemon of the Cold +ar era to the subaltern ob"ect of the multinational capitalism it once spawned' 1 1n order to measure the full e4tent of this decline! it3s worth pausing for a moment to reflect on how thoroughly the era of monopoly capitalism Every roughly! the 17:0s to the 16;0sF was dominated by the /nited -tates' ,he high point was surely 16G;! when the /- accounted for almost ;0H of global industrial output! generating three times as much 8D9 per capita than the /@ and -weden! eight times as much as +est 8ermany! and ten times as much as 2apan' +ith the assistance of the <retton +oods system of fi4ed e4change rates and the installation of the /dollar as world reserve currency! /- military @eynesianism powered the world economy for the ne4t thirty years! spreading =ollywood! shopping malls and automobili%ation across the globe' 0ll this changed in the post$16:; con"uncture! when two semi$peripheral regions of the world$economy not 2apan and 8ermany! but .ast 0sia and Central .urope began to catch up with their erstwhile /- mentor! in fields ranging from autos to computers! ban)ing to electronics! and machine$tools to telecommunications' 9owered by a wide variety of corporatist and welfarist developmental states! .ast 0sian and ./ firms ranging from -ony and 5o)ia! to -,(icro and ,oyota! rose to global prominence by out$engineering! out$servicing and out$thin)ing their /competitors'2 <y the late 1660s! even that last bastion of /- supremacy! namely the media and entertainment bi%! suddenly had to contend with powerhouse ./ media firms Ee'g' <ertelsmann and Iivendi /niversalF as well as .ast 0sia3s near$monopoly on the videogame industry Ea field with an estimated JG6'66 billion in 2001 revenues! according to the +all -treet 2ournalF' 3 ,his economic transformation went hand$in hand with a vast financial transformation& by 2001! the /- had not only become the world3s biggest debtor nation Eto the tune of minus 2 trillion euros on its net international investment account! a figure e#uivalent to around 20H of /- 8D9F! but had to import G00 billion euros per annum from .ast 0sia and the ./! the dominant creditors of the world$system! to pay for its trade and current account deficits and )eep its economy afloat' G ,o ma)e a long story short! the /- is no longer the economic! financial or even cultural center of the post$Cold +ar world$system! a fact of inconceivable significance to cultural theory' *or whatever their other differences may have been! both postmodernism and postcolonialism did share a common social geography and narrative metric& namely! /- economic! political and cultural hegemony or what we call /- monopoly capitalism! the Cold +ar! and 0mericani%ation! respectively' 9ostmodernism derived its content from the immanent version of 2

this hegemony! i'e' the /- mass media and communications infrastructure! precisely where postcolonialism focused for the most part on transcendental models of 0mericani%ation! i'e' the progressive nationalisms and internationalisms of the -econd and ,hird +orld which reverse$ engineered their very own 0mericani%ations! as it were! in order to resist the encroachment of the /- hegemon Ee'g' the cultural innovations of -oviet and ,hird +orld cinema! as well as the political mobili%ations of the anti$colonial movements! national revolutions! and Communist partiesF'; 9ut bluntly! even at their most radically anti$0merican! postmodernism and postcolonialism remained all too 0mericentric! and we will go so far as to suggest that the all$ purpose term B.urocentricismC as a shorthand reference to imperialism ought to be shelved in favor of the more accurate B0mericentrismC! B0nglocentrismC and B*rancocentrismC! depending on the national imperialism in #uestion Eone could also spea) of BKusocentrismC and B1berocentrismCF' ,here may indeed be a )ind of BeurocentrismC in the future! with a small BeC! based on the ./3s common currency and hegemonic might vis$D$vis the (aghreb and .astern .uropean regions! but this needs to be radically distinguished from 16 th century colonialism and 20th century neocolonialism' +hat the current usage of .urocentrism fatally occludes! in particular! is the history of the .ast 0sian nation$states! and in particular the ghastly history of 2apanese imperialism! as well as the long$running sub$imperialisms of feudal China vis$D$vis the cultures which became modern$day @orea and Iietnam the local subvariants! in short! of 5ippocentrism and -inocentrism' 5owhere are the uni#ue vectors of .ast 0sian nationalism and postcolonial identity more crucial than in Du 5guyLn3s Mpronounced BnwahnCN magnificent verse novel! The Tale of Kiu E1713F! the national epic of Iietnam' 0 high$ran)ing mandarin who personally witnessed the tumultuous birth of the Iietnamese nation$state! 5guyLn created a masterpiece e#ual to the greatest verse epics of 8oethe and -chiller! but which has languished in relative obscurity due to all the usual colonial and neocolonial reasons Efor one thing! the first .nglish translation was not available until the 16:0sO for another! Iietnamese language and culture remains vastly underrepresented in *irst +orld universitiesF' +hat ma)es Kiu especially interesting is its contemporaneity with the *rench and 0merican revolutions! and in particular the moment of rupture or brea) between the revolutionary$national revolutions of the 17 th century and the processes of state$formation in the early 16 th century! i'e' the distance from the storming of the <astille to the 5apoleonic Code! or from the shots fired at Ke4ington to the drafting of the /Constitution' 0s it turns out! the late 17th century was an e#ually momentous period in Iietnamese history as well! characteri%ed by a thirty$year cycle of dynastic wars! peasant uprisings! Chinese invasions! wars of national resistance! and wars of national unification' ,he cycle officially began with the ,Py -Qn rebellion in 1::1! one of the first great peasant revolutions in world history' /nli)e the peasant uprisings of the .uropean Reformation! which were stamped out with e4treme brutality! the ,Py -Qn Enamed after the three brothers who led the revoltF soon grew into a national movement which toppled the ruling houses of northern and southern Iietnam! and even carried out a modest amount of land redistribution' ,his drew the ire of China3s Ring dynasty! which was pledged to support the traditional rulersO the Ring conse#uently invaded Iietnam with a massive army in 1:77' /nder the leadership of 5guyLn =uS! the ,Py -Qn demolished the invasion force in 1:76 via a tactically brilliant ,et offensive' 0lthough 5guyLn later crowned himself .mperor Ruang ,rung! he did not live long enough to consolidate his regime! and his death by natural causes in 1:62 spar)ed a renewed round of civil war' ,he 3

conflict did not end until 5guyLn 0nh! the only surviving member of one of the lesser south$ eastern ruling families! established the 8ia Kong dynasty and the first administratively unified Iietnamese state in 1702' ,his eventful political history was matched by an e#uivalent outpouring of literary innovation! something attested to by the wor) of 5guyLn3s contemporary! =T ?uPn =UQng! the other indispensable Iietnamese poet of the early 16 th century! who carried out the sort of national revolution in the field of lyric poetry which Kiu accomplished in the realm of the verse novel' V 5guyLn interwove )ey strands of this historical period into the narrative fabric of @iWu! transforming an eclectic admi4ture of Confucian sayings! <uddhist and ,aoist lore! classical Chinese literary forms and plebian Iietnamese poetry! proverbs! ballads and fol)lore into a true national epic! crac)ling with the energies of a 5apoleonic thunderbolt' +hat Kiu offers us! then! is an incomparable opportunity to rethin) the development of national culture! nation$state formation! and cultural moderni%ation from a multinational Ethat is to say! post$0mericanF perspective' Iiewed historically! few national cultures have ever emerged in precise loc)step with their corresponding political and economic infrastructuresO .merson and ,horeau composed their meditations on the 0merican national character decades after the 0merican Revolution! while Cao ?ue#in3s Story of the Stone! the great Chinese novel of the 17th century! was written a hundred and eighty years in advance of China3s emergence as a political nation$state in 16G6' 9erhaps the one author who can be said to have produced a canonic national aesthetics during an era of national revolution! namely .gypt3s 5aguib (ahfou%! one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century! is very much the e4ception which proves the rule& not only do (ahfou%3 later wor)s turn sharply against the official institutions of the 5asserite one$party state! but the stylistic tra"ectory from the realism of his Cairo trilogy to the startling modernism of The Thief and the Dogs! and finally to the full$blown postmodernism of Adrift on the Nile and Miramar! recuperates the 1;0$year span from <al%ac to +illiam -' <urroughs in the space of twenty years' 1f (ahfou% offers an ob"ect$lesson in how centuries of past metropolitan aesthetics can be reappropriated by the periphery in a radical turn! then Kiu offers an intriguing e4ample of how a wor) of art can! at the right time and place! anticipate centuries of future history! namely Iietnam3s 1;0$year struggle against *rench! 2apanese and 0merican colonialism' ,his in turn raises all sorts of interesting #uestions about how one might periodi%e a te4t which seems so utterly asynchronous to its cultural time and place' Certainly! Kiu certainly stri)es many of the same proto$national chords as 0le4ander 9ush)in3s verse novel! Eugene Onegin! while its involuted narrative structure bears more than a passing resemblance to the famously binomial protagonists of +eimar theater' <ut whereas 9ush)in3s wor) retrofitted the superstructure of the aristocratic marriage$plot with a utopian Russian national identity! and where -chiller reverse$ engineered a pree4isting -wiss national culture into the model nationalism of William Tell! 5guyLn will forge a uni#uely Iietnamese national identity on the grounds of gender identity$ politics' 5ot only is the central figure of the story is a woman! @iWu ,hXy! but much of the plot revolves around a breathta)ingly advanced denunciation of the gender roles and patriarchal clan relations of late Iietnamese feudalism' 1n effect! Kiu turned the familial into the political! more than a century before the cadres of the Iietcong would put the cultural insight into political practice! by telling peasants in the villages! B+e are not your fathersO you are our mothersC' One of the )ey reasons for this startling modernity was the complicating factor of Iietnam3s neighbor to the north! namely China' ,he territory of present$day Iietnam e4isted for a thousand years as a tributary province of various Chinese .mpires! and it was only after G

countless failed rebellions! each commemorated in copious detail by Iietnamese fol)lore! that an indigenous Iietnamese dynasty managed to throw off the yo)e of the ,3ang dynasty in the early tenth century 0D' -ince then! Iietnam has successfully resisted periodic invasions from China in 671! 10:V! 127G! 127:! 1G0V! 1:76 and! latest of all! 16:6' ,his lengthy struggle for autonomy did not merely generate hostility towards the invaderO it also permitted great swathes of China3s e4amination system! ideographic alphabet and culture to be absorbed by Iietnam3s indigenous scholar$gentry or literati! in much the same way that China3s vast hydraulics systems! intensive rice horticulture! and river$mercantilisms centered around the Yellow River and the Yangt%e were transplanted onto Iietnam3s own Red River and (e)ong valley$cultures' : 1n geopolitical terms! Iietnam3s position vis$D$vis China in 1713 was thus roughly analogous to the newly independent Katin 0merican states vis$D$vis -pain and 9ortugal! the 0merican southern colonies vis$D$vis <ritain! or =aiti vis$D$vis *rance! and we will see later that there is a moment in Kiu which corresponds to the moment of <olivarism' China was thus the first great counter$player! to borrow .ri) .ri)son3s suggestive term! for Iietnam3s autonomous development! a tradition which has continued until well into the 20 th century& the nom de guerre of Iietnam3s greatest revolutionary! =o Chi (inh! is a Chinese e4pression literally meaning B=e +ho .nlightensC! and it is no accident that when =o was arrested and interned by a regional Chinese warlord in the early 16G0s while trying to cross the northern border! he wrote his famous prison poems in Chinese ideograms' +hat this means in practical terms is that Kius relationship to Chinese culture is somewhat more complicated than! say! 9ush)in3s adaptation of the categories of late 17 th century *rench melodrama! or -ha)espeare3s rewor)ing of the history play into .li%abethan national drama' ,his is partly due to 5guyLn3s s)illful use of Chinese literary metaphors! tropes and similes! which ceaselessly shuttle from one proto$national culture to another! and partly because much of the plot is borrowed from an e4tant Chinese narrative! The Tale of Chin, uen and Chiao' +ritten under the pseudonym of Ch3ing$hsin ,s3ai$"en! and most li)ely published at some point during the Ring era! the wor) is a mediocre novel! but had the singular merit of furnishing 5guyLn with some of the )ey raw materials for his own classic' +e are e4tremely fortunate to have =uZnh -anh ,h[ng3s e4cellent .nglish translation of Kiu! which provides detailed annotations of 5guyLn3s Chinese references and specifically Iietnamese innovations E1 should note that in the #uotations to come! 1 generally use the literal translation found in =uZnh3s notes! in order to highlight the comple4 interplay of Chinese and Iietnamese cultural registersF' Consider the opening passage! which ma)es three significant allusions to the Chinese canon& 0 hundred years in this life span on earth talent and destiny are apt to feud' You must go through an event in which the sea becomes mulberry fields Mb\$dPuN and watch such things as ma)e you sic) at heart' 1s it strange that who is rich in this is poor in that] <lue =eaven3s wont to stri)e rosy chee)s from spite'7 ,he term Bb\$dPuC! literally Bsea$and$mulberryC! signifies a profound natural or social upheavalO no less an authority than (ao >edong would commemorate the liberation of 5an)ing by the Red 0rmy in 0pril of 16G6 with a poem which concluded triumphantly& B+hat mar)s the course of men^ 1s the *lood$tides and (ulberry$fieldsC'6 +hat is stri)ing here is Kiu3s intensely sub"ective framing of this motif! that is to say! the well$nigh -ha)espearian clash of plebian talent and ;

nobilitarian destiny! shorn of any theological intermediary between the two registersO no less significant is the direct appeal to the reader3s heart! ironically contrasted to the heartlessness of the =eavens! a')'a' the imperial bureaucracy' Kast but not least! the seemingly innocent piece of fol) wisdom! Bwho is rich in this is poor in thatC! conceals a canny piece of linguistic dialectics& as =uZnh points out! 5guyLn uses the Iietnamese transcription of a Chinese literary adage here! namely Bb_ s`c tU phongC Emeaning roughly! noone is perfectF! rather than the indigenous Iietnamese phrase! which would be BdUac cbi nDy mct cbi )iaC Eliterally! BMwhoN gets this! loses thatCF'10 9resumably! the Iietnamese saying would have been too crudely materialistic for the purposes of the narrative! which stresses the importance of internali%ed or symbolic wealth! as opposed to a one$time profit or loss' 1t3s worth remembering here that the wealth of China3s dynastic cultures was e4tracted from agrarian$rents mediated by internal networ)s of river$ valleys! as opposed to ocean$based trade' ,he traditional threat to Chinese dynasties! namely the semi$nomadic cultures based further in the continental interior! were occasionally a military threat! but never a technological or economic one' <y contrast! Iietnam3s coastal geography! combined with the rugged mountain terrain along its northern and western borders and the overwhelming presence of China! spawned a #ualitatively different geographic unconscious one far more attuned to maritime metaphors' +hereas the Chinese term for the nation is Bchung$ guoC literally! Bmiddle realmC one of the )ey Iietnamese terms for nation or homeland is BnUdcC! which can also mean BwaterC! BstreamsC! BriversC! and even BtideCO 5guyLn also deploys the more poetic BnUdc nonC Eliterally! Bhills and streamsCF! the Iietnamese e#uivalent of BcountrysideC' 5guyLn will do more! however! than "ust transform the symbolic currency of Chinese mountains and rivers into Iietnamese hills and streamsO he will also undermine the Confucian gender ideology of (ing$era China! via a clever set of narrative inversions' Kiu does not begin with the village idyll or the stereotypical male protagonist of Chinese opera the handsome young scholar! destined to fall in love with a fair maiden but rather in the midst of that prototypical urban phenomenon! the crowd EB*ine men and beauteous women on parade^ horses and carriages li)e water! upper and lower garments li)e nen grassCF' 11 0s evening approaches! the three siblings of the IUQng family @iWu! the eldest daughterO IPn! her younger sisterO and Ruan! their brother! the youngest of all stroll by a grave! whereupon Ruan recounts the sad fate of efm ,ign! a famous singer much admired in her day! who died suddenly before the arrival of a mysterious suitor& *rom overseas a stranger came to woo and win a girl whose name spread far and wide' <ut when the lover3s boat sailed into port! he found the hairpin had bro)en! the flower vase had fallen' 12 ,his invocation of an ocean$going mercantilism gone awry! which in a different time and place might have provided the materials for a somber 5ew .ngland sea shanty or a (elville novel! is employed here for #uite a different purpose' 0fter writing a poem to commemorate efm ,ign! @iWu sin)s into a mournful trance! the rough e#uivalent of the Romantic melancholy of a Rousseau! or the suicidal gloom of *aust in his study' +aving aside the protests of her brother! @iWu insists on waiting for a sign from the deceased singerO their wait is rewarded by a mysterious whirlwind! which sha)es the trees and leaves tell$tale footprints in the moss Eas a V

to)en of her gratitude! @iWu writes an old$style or B)u shihC poem! i'e' unregulated by length! tone or rhyme se#uenceF' ,his whirlwind has the most uncanny resemblance to the clash of proto$national and nobilitarian registers in @leist! pithily described by =einer (Aller as follows& BM@leist3sN fundamental metaphor! in the force$field between .urope and 0sia! is the pillar of dust! the trope of total acceleration at a standstill! the eye of the typhoon'C 13 ,o be sure! the energies in #uestion here are not those of a 9russian principality buffeted by the storm of the 5apoleonic +ars! but rather a unified Iietnam "ust beginning to develop into an autonomous nation$state' Our first hint of this is the moment when @im ,rhng! the young scholar$hero straight out of the Chinese operatic canon! espies the IUQngs from afar! and finds himself instantly smitten with @iWu& M=eN caught a fleeting glimpse of the red shadows in the distance& spring orchid! autumn mum a gorgeous pairi <eautiful girl and talented young man what stirred their hearts their eyes still dared not to say' ,hey hovered! rapture$bound! jtween wa)e and dream& they could not stay! nor would they soon depart'1G 5guyLn artfully counterpoints the opening motif of Bred shadowsC literally! Bbkng hTngC! a time$honored poetic trope meaning Ba woman glimpsed at a distanceC! i'e' from somewhere within the Confucian family enclosure with a scandalous proto$national temporality& this is the deeply egalitarian self$identification of the last line! which erupts out of the hieratic enclosure in much the same way that the @antian intuitions of national$"uridical norms stormed out of sleepy 17th century @lnigsberg' <ut where @ant retrofitted the archaic superstructure of the Central .uropean principalities with the "uridical constants of a genuinely national Ethat is to say! <ritish! *rench or 0mericanF legislative sphere! Kiu set the space of the Iietnamese mercantile clan in motion towards a -outheast 0sian or proto$national mercantilism' ,he result is one of the first great representations of the national sub"ect in Iietnamese literature& 0lone! in silence! she beheld Ch3ang$o3s shadow Mi'e' the moonN! her heart a raveled coil of hopes and fears&1; Once again! 5guyLn transforms a Chinese trope Ch3ang$o is the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology into the perfect foil for @iWu3s blossoming sub"ectivity! mediated by the te4tile sublime of a handicrafts culture Ee'g' B=ow strange! the race of loversi ,ry as you will^ You can3t unsnarl their hearts3 entangled threads'CF 1V @iWu3s moment of introspection has significant affinities to =T ?uPn =UQng3s magnificent !uestions for the Moon! which concludes with this provocative couplet& +eary! past midnight! who are you searching for] 0re you in love with these rivers and hills MnUdc nonN]1: +hereas =T ?uPn =UQng3s moon pro"ects a fantasmatic proto$national sub"ect! 5guyLn3s version depicts a proto$national ob"ect! i'e' as bac)ground scenery in a decidedly non$.uropean national landscape' 0s an aesthetic category! the early 16 th century <ritish and 0merican landscapes were mediated by a relatively homogenous stratum of commerciali%ed gentry and :

frontier yeomanry! something apparent everywhere from 2ohn @eats3 retrospective nightingale to ,horeau3s 5ew .ngland egalitarianism! all the way to the sovereign vistas of 9ierre$Charles K3.nfant3s building$plan of +ashington! DC' <y contrast! the aesthetics of the Iietnamese landscape of the day were mediated primarily by the literati and its associated feudal hierarchies! and only secondarily by a budding merchant class' 1t is therefore the deep$seated crisis of literati culture! wrac)ed by twenty$five years of civil war and social upheaval! which turns out to be the stic)ing point in @iWu3s premonitory dream& Mefm ,ign spea)s&N B+ell! ten new sub"ects our Keague Chief "ust set& again please wor) your magic with a brush'C @iWu did as as)ed and wrote with nymphic grace her hand dashed off ten lyrics at one stro)e' efm ,ign read them and marveled to herself& BRich$wrought embroidery from a heart of goldi included in the <oo) of -orrow -ongs Mcollection of poems written by those with severed entrailsN! they3ll yield the palm to none but win first pri%e'C 17 efm ,ign3s ghost returns as a #uasi$=egelian -pirit or internali%ed psychological drive! at the same moment that @iWu3s dream$interpretation of her own poem displaces the actual poetic performance' 1n =egelian terminology! efm ,ign is the national$literary -pirit dressed in the garb of the peasant spirit$worldO in sociological terms! she ta)es on some of the )ey functions of a national literary sphere! namely the editor! publisher and literary critic' ,he price 5guyLn pays for this advance is the obsolescence of the literati poetic tradition! something obli#uely registered by @im3s longing for his veiled muse& =e drained the cup of gloom& it filled anew one day without her seemed three autumns long' -il) curtains veiled her windows li)e dense clouds! and toward the rose within he3d dream his way' ,he moon )ept waning! oil )ept burning low& his face yearned for her face! his heart her heart' ,he study$room turned icy! cold as copper brushes lay dry! lute strings hung loose on frets'16 <y retrofitting a series of climatic signifiers Eautumn! clouds! moon! and the tactile sensation of the coldF with the implied e#uivalence of the face for face and heart for heart! this passage does more than simply privilege 16 th century meteorology over <uddhist theology' +hat is at sta)e is the emergence of national identity in the first place' 1f the +eimar theater had the option of pro"ecting a utopian 8erman cultural nationalism in advance of an actual 8erman nation$state the most famous e4ample is *aust3s national$revolutionary Eread& 5apoleonicF speculation! which is redeemed in 8retchen3s provincial coin 5guyLn faced the rather different situation of narrating a nation$state in advance of its corresponding nationalism' ,he historical antinomy here was that the ,Py -Qn rebels could defeat the Chinese .mpire but were unable! due to the underdevelopment of Iietnam3s mercantile class vis$D$vis the .uropean colonial powers! to replace the dynastic system of clan allegiances with a nation$building 0bsolutism' 20 5or was 7

there the .ast 0sian e#uivalent of a <ritish or 0merican identity$politics which might have served as the symbolic counter$player to the Chinese .mpire of the dayO the closest candidate! 2apan! would not emerge from its self$imposed seclusion until the (ei"i Restoration! well after the occupation of Iietnam by 1mperial *rance' 5guyLn3s first step towards resolving this aesthetic Ebut also politicalF problem will be the nationali%ation of the mercantile clan' ,his is broadly hinted at by the dwelling @im rents ne4t to @iWu3s family compound& not only is the house owned by a merchant away on business! but its ritual name is ,hXy Eliterally! B)ingfisherC! but also @iWu3s family nameF' 21 +hat may seem to be a clumsy or heavy$handed fable of alienation is in fact a sophisticated refunctioning of clan identity$politics' .lsewhere in the poem! the standard pseudonym for @iWu3s mother is Bnha huygnC! which literally means Bthe house Mwhere growsN the day$lilyC! 22 while the comparable term for her father is B4uPn$dUQngC EBthe house Mwhere growsN a fragrant cedarCF' 23 <y literally and figuratively alienating the family name to a location outside of the family compound! 5guyLn generates a narrative space e#uidistant from the hieratic marriage$plot and the mercantile mar)etplace ali)e' ,his is a significant step beyond the mercantile framewor) of Cao ?ue#in3s late 17th century classic! Story of the Stone! and one can argue that @im3s chamber is halfway between the secluded literati study and the semi$public .nlightenment salon' 5guyLn3s ne4t move is to relocate the ritual e4change of e#uivalences within the conte4t of a powerful gender ideology& =er words untied a )not within his breast to her he passed gold bracelets and red scarf' B=enceforth 13m bound to you for life!C he said' BCall these small gifts a to)en of my love'C 1n hand she had a sunflower$figured fan& she traded it that instant for her pin' 2G ,he female raveled coil and the male )not converge in the melodramatic trope of the heart! i'e' a gender ideology mediated by national$"uridical rather than clan$familial coordinates' ,his trope! in turn! permits 5guyLn to fashion a rudimentary national allegory' 1n the astonishing conclusion of this passage! @iWu not only crosses over from her family compound into @im3s room an utterly scandalous act for a woman of her time but single$handedly transforms the Chinese watercolor s)etch of misty mountain pines into a primordial national postcard& <rush rac) and tube for poems on his des) above! there hung a s)etch of pale green pines' *rost$bitten and wind$battered! they loo)ed real& the more she ga%ed! the more they sprang to life' B1t3s something 1 dashed off "ust now!C he said' B9lease write your comments! lending it some worth'C =er nymphic hand moved li)e a lashing storm and penned some #uatrains right atop the pines'2; @iWu3s poetic brush$stro)e countersigns the Iietnamese landscape li)e an emblematic national seal! as 5guyLn3s meteorological metaphors coalesce into the sigils of an early national realism' ,he content of this realism is the freely$sworn pledge! which is not #uite the formal mar)et 6

contract but no longer the hieratic in"unction or familial vow& <oth wrote a pledge of troth! and with a )nife they cut in two a loc) of her long hair' ,he star) bright moon was ga%ing from the s)ies as with one voice both mouths pronounced the oath' ,heir hearts3 recesses they e4plored and probed! etching their vow of union in their bones' <oth sipped a nectar wine from cups of "ade sil)s breathed their scents! the mirror glassed their selves' 2V 8iven that the sil) garment and the mirror were elite lu4uries in the Iietnamese society of the day! it3s significant that the passage refers to a specifically nobilitarian rather than mercantile or /r$bourgeois refle4ivity' ,his slippage mar)s one of the fundamental narrative fault$lines of Kiu! namely the cleft between the poem3s proto$national forms and the archaic types of regional$mercantile content at its disposal' <y highlighting the antinomy between an e4ternal or socially$sanctioned appearance Emandarin dressF and internal self$appearance Enobilitarian statusF! the con"unction of the sil) and the mirror names the double crisis of Iietnamese society& the cultural ban)ruptcy of the mandarins in the face of peasant uprisings from below! and the political subalternity of the nobilitarian elites vis$D$vis a 8ia Kong dynasty imposed from above'2: ,his is also the secret of @iWu3s lute performance! which hovers on the very borders of a national musical aesthetics& Clear notes li)e cries of egrets flying pastO dar) tones li)e torrents tumbling in mid$course' 0ndantes languid as a wafting bree%eO allegros rushing li)e a pouring rain' ,he lamp now flared! now dimmed and there he sat hovering between sheer rapture and deep gloom' 27 (eteorological form and mercantile content converge in the mercantile speculation! transforming @im and @iWu into premonitory icons of the national audience and national performer! respectively' +hat is not yet clear! however! is how such proto$national forms can be e4pected to generate an authentically national content! given the underdeveloped and inchoate status of the Iietnamese nation$state' One subtle hint is the moment where @im3s wooing goes too far! and @iWu reproves him with a lecture somewhere between a literati recitation and a Reformation$era sermon'26 ,his seemingly minor detail is the first tremor in a micropolitical earth#ua)e! which will demolish the tottering edifice of the literati tradition and clear the path for its national successor' @iWu3s fateful parting words to @im crac)le li)e the .ast 0sian thunderbolt between 2oan d30rc and (adame <ovary& B0s long as hills and streams endure! come bac)! remembering her who is with you today'C30 -ub"ective transience converges with ob"ective duration in the moment of national remembrance! something underlined by the driving repetition of the preposition BcmnC in the couplet3s internal 10

rhyme scheme EBCmn non cmn nUdc cmn dDi^cmn vW cmn nhd nWn ngUoi h[m nayCF' (ercantile #uantity does not rise to national #uality! however! until the fateful event recorded some seventeen lines later& the ,hXy family is arrested by corrupt bailiffs! triggering @iWu3s heroic decision to rescue her )infol) by selling herself into an arranged marriage Eeven worse! her purchaser! a certain -cholar (p! is up to no goodF' +hat is most e4traordinary about the se#uence is its impressive wealth of economic detail& among other things! we learn that a sil)$ trader Ei'e' a commercial competitorF was responsible for downfall of the ,hXy clanO that the bailiffs are motivated primarily by greed and not ideologyO and that arranged marriages have long become a fertile site of investment opportunities' 31 ,o ma)e a long story short! the mercantile speculation crash$lands in the grisly realities of national e4propriation' @iWu3s spectacular self$sacrifice thus has two significant conse#uences! both of which turn on the category of gender' *irst! @im can be safely whis)ed off$stage! thereby cementing @iWu3s role as the central protagonist' -econd! the disruption of the mercantile clan permits the category of gender to be pried loose from the nobilitarian household! permitting @iWu3s literal and figurative alienation to symboli%e the no4ious effects Eas well as utopian potentialF of the cash ne4us' <y symbolically pawning the mercantile clan3s family silver! 5guyLn gambles everything on the gold standard of a national identity$politics& 9ity the child! so young and so naqve (isfortune! li)e a storm Mva gio tai bayN! swooped down on her' ,o part from @im meant sorrow! death in life would she still care for life! much less love] 0 raindrop does not brood on its poor fateO a leaf of grass repays three months of spring'32 ,he subtle framing of @iWu3s sub"ective reaction against the ob"ective bac)drop of the masculine storm EBva gio tai bayC literally means Bdisaster that comes flying on the windC! and can refer to social or natural eventsF and the feminine raindrop EBhft mUaCF does more than set meteorology in motion towards the politics of gender' 33 1t signals the birth of a genuinely national character$ system! founded on a plebian politics of sisterhood as opposed to the hieratic politics of brotherhood' 1n fact! 5guyLn will construct a whole series of female counter$players! ranging from the ghostly efm ,ign all the way to the benevolent 8iac! who collectively guide! motivate and otherwise shepherd @iWu on her epic "ourney through Iietnamese society' .ach of these counter$players anchors! in turn! a local hieratic space or institution! against which @iWu can be defined as a sub"ect& efm ,ign3s divination of the future thus provides the temporal bac)stop for @iWu3s once$in$a$lifetime musical performanceO IPn3s marriage is the necessary counterpoint to @iWu3s subse#uent e4ileO (a @iWu3s trust enables @iWu to rescue herself from -d @hanh3s treachery! and so forth' ,his is why @iWu3s plea to her sister to marry @im in her stead is not the regression to an archaic clan$identity it might seem to be! but rather a step towards national history& BYou have long days of spring ahead please heed ,he call of blood! redeem my pledge Mldi nUdc nonN for meC 3G ,he phrase Bldi nUdc nonC literally means Bthe word M1 swore in sight ofN streams and hillsC! i'e' the oath of clan loyalty turns into the pledge of national fidelity' ,his significantly raises the 11

sta)es of the success or failure of Kius character$system! in the sense that the more a national cultural logic asserts itself over and above the dictates of the local clan$identity! marriage$plot! or literati trope in #uestion! the greater the need for mediations capable of binding such local materials to the national pledge or put another way! the greater the need for a wor)ing category of national allegory' ,he )ey limitation of the counter$players is that they cannot fulfill this allegorical function& they are neither the (ephistophelean agents of a belated nationali%ation! nor the -ha)espearian figures of nationalisms yet to be' 0s a result! @iWu will increasingly ta)e on the refle4ive sub"ectivity of the ob"ective locality in #uestion! thereby transforming the hieratic rite into the national .vent' ,he trial run for this strategy was the leap from efm ,ign3s literati sphere to @iWu3s musical performance! which momentarily transformed the rented house into the national concert$hall' 5guyLn goes still further with the ne4t counter$player& the leap from IPn3s marriage$pledge to @iWu3s e4ile generates not only the space of a ritual national e4propriation! a')'a' the brothel! but also the agents of that e4propriation! namely -cholar (p and (adame ,X the #uasi$allegorical personifications of gluttony and avarice! respectively' 5guyLn ta)es this opportunity to deliver one of the great denunciations of primitive accumulation ever written& (ere ha%ard! undesigned! can bring things off& -awdust and bitter melon met and merged' ,hey pooled resources! opening a shop to deal in powder and sell perfume Mi'e' engage in prostitutionN Country and town they scoured for BconcubinesC whom they would teach the trade of play and love' 3; B-awdust and bitter melonC is a uni#uely Iietnamese term for two swindlers who un)nowingly hoodwin) each other! and there is a sense in which the unconsummated affair between @im and @iWu represents the ideal of egalitarian e4change! (p and ,X3s consummated transaction epitomi%es the reality of une#ual e4change' ,hat said! we need to be very careful about overhastily e#uating these e4changes with the national mar)etplace or identifying the brothel with the national factory! and not "ust because no true system of machinofacture e4isted in the Iietnam of the day' ,he above passage underlines one of the central parado4es of nation$state formation in early 16th century .ast 0sia& namely! the relative abundance of domestic capital! combined with a crying scarcity of e4ternal outlets for profitable reinvestment Ea')'a' overseas coloniesF' +hile a great deal of mercantile wealth was transmuted into sophisticated forms of symbolic capital via the literati system! an ever$increasing portion was indirectly e4ported to the .uropean colonial powers! via the une#ual e4change of silver coinage or agrarian commodities Etea! opium! cottonF for metropolitan guns! te4tiles and manufactures' ,he result was the slow$ motion compradori%ation of .ast 0sian mercantile capital! which felt increasingly obliged to s#uee%e the peasantry one of the contributing factors of the Iietnamese peasant rebellions of 5guyLn3s day' ,his has its literary e4pression in the rift between the stri)ing psychological realism of @iWu3s solilo#uies her prenuptial swoon! in particular! is practically a te4tboo) e4ample of *reudian hysteria3V and the allegorical figure of -cholar (p! whose commodity lust has more in common with the 1:th buccaneer than the 17th century *rench or <ritish libertine' 3: -imply! no pree4isting national$"uridical register is available which could triangulate between mercantile wealth and nobilitarian privilege in the manner of! say! Cervantes3 anonymous village priest who 12

mediates between Rui4ote3s e4travagant speculations and -ancho 9an%a3s peasant pragmatism in the first half of Don !ui"ote' 5guyLn3s first step towards creating such a register will be to recuperate two of the archetypes of literati poetry! namely the seasonal flood and the pastoral landscape! from the standpoint of @iWu3s scandalously feminine sub"ectivity' ,he result in the first case is the literally and figuratively double$edged symbol of the )nife! which foreshadows the emergence of @iWu3s autonomous corporeality EBYes! and if and when the flood MnUdcN should reach my feet ^ this )nife may later help decide my lifeFC' 37 ,he result in the second case is the intriguing variant of the picares#ue! appended to @iWu3s e4ile& -he traveled far! far into the un)nown' <ridges star) white with frost! woods dar) with clouds' Reeds huddling close while blew the cold north windO an autumn s)y for her and her alone'36 ,he temporal se#uencing of the imagery bridges^frost! woods^clouds! reeds^wind! autumn s)y^solitary figure transforms the hac)neyed materials of the literati s)etch into the national realism of the 16th century panorama' ,he parado4 is that this symbolic national frame does not yet contain a national sub"ectivity! something most evident in @iWu3s dramatic arrival at the brothel! and her unsuccessful suicide attempt a gesture which will resonate in the annals of .ast 0sian culture for centuries to come' G0 ,he )ey point to remember here is that @iWu3s act temporarily forestalls her enslavement! but does not really change anything& she has merely been transferred from one hieratic prison to another' ,his is confirmed by the covert references to the previous counter$players during @iWu3s near$fatal swoon& efm ,ign briefly reappears as the offscreen presence who reminds @iWu of her )armic debts! while IPn3s pledge similarly reappears as (adame ,X3s devious promise Esoon to be bro)enF that @iWu will be married off instead of forced into prostitution' 0ll in all! the true brea)through of national allegory does not occur until somewhat later! when 5guyLn invents the Iietnamese version of the +estern .uropean landscape and panorama! namely the national seascape& -he sadly watched the harbor in gray dus) whose boat was that with fluttering sails! far off] -he sadly watched the river flow to sea where would this flower end! adrift and lost] -he sadly watched the field of wilted grass! the bluish ha%e where merged the earth and clouds' -he sadly watched the wind whip up on the cove and set all waves a$roaring round her seat' =emmed in by foreign streams and alien hills! Mnhrng nUdc$nonN the e4ile cried her grief in sad #uatrains' G1 +hat lends this passage its e4traordinary power is the structural deployment of the fol) song as a rhythmic and symbolic frame' ,he static repetition of the chorus EB-he sadly watchedsCF not only counterpoints the subtle progression of the visual imagery from least to most abstract! it transforms @iWu3s e4perience of personal e4ile into a symbolic national diaspora' ,his suggests! in turn! that the most e4pansive vista of them all namely! the boundless e4panse of the 9acific 13

Ocean is the untranscendable hori%on and narrative limit$point of the story! or to paraphrase <ourdieu! the global field of the world$mar)et against which the habitus of national allegory can be read' ,hings are not #uite this simple! however! for two main reasons' *irst! the trading routes of the 9acific had already been con#uered by the .uropean colonial powers! and the 8ia Kong regime3s traffic with the +est was e4tensive enough to ensure that it was simply not possible to depict the ocean as an ob"ective void or non$national space in the manner of Defoe3s #o$inson Crusoe'G2 -econd! such an interpretation glosses over the crucial problem of Chinese nation$state formation! a process which was advanced enough to produce China3s first great national novel Cao ?ue#in3s Story of the Stone in the mid$17th century! well ahead of its .ast 0sian neighbors' ,his comparative advantage in cultural capital had a directly economic counterpart! namely the e4istence of a si%eable community of e4patriate Chinese merchants living in Iietnam! who formed a local merchant caste' ,he easiest way to grasp what is at sta)e here is to return to an analogous moment in the history of the +estern .uropean novel! namely the moment in the second half of Don !ui"ote when the picares#ue is set in motion towards the metropolis of 8olden 0ge <arcelona' Cervantes3 )ey narrative innovation here is the dissolution of the mediating trope of the priest! and the corresponding transformation of Don Rui4ote and -ancho 9an%a into full$fledged bourgeois Erational! calculating! autonomousF sub"ects! capable of everything from #uasi$ "uridical denunciations of the plagiari%ed Rui4ote te4t to the tas) of running an enlightened government' ,his stri)ing sublation of the habitus of =apsburg 0bsolutism by a national literary field! however! is simply not a viable strategy in the conte4t of a 16 th century Iietnamese society bereft of a mercantile port city! an entrenched 0bsolutism! or colonial surplus$rents' 5guyLn3s solution is hinted at by the final couplet of the above passage! and the "u4taposition of the Bforeign hills and streamsC and the #uatrains of traditional poetry' ,his is a subtle reference to Iietnam3s traditional antagonist and cultural model! namely China! and it is no accident that subse#uent events turn upon the problem of the Chinese writing$system' -till loc)ed up in the brothel! @iWu is befriended by a certain -d @hanh! who declares his affection and suggests they run off together! by sending her a note with the two Chinese ideograms! Bhsi yAehC Ewhich can be further bro)en down into the characters Bnien i "ih hsA tsouC! or Bflee on the 21st day! hour of the dogCF'G3 ,hough they escape at the appointed time! she is #uic)ly recaptured by the pursuing brothel$)eepers and beaten almost to death by (adame ,X' ,o save her life! @iWu vows to become a full$fledged prostitute! uttering a line which has become a national proverb EB=ow can an eel mind muddying its head]CF' GG 1n fact! the madam relents only when a fellow brothel$wor)er! (a @iWu the third counter$player steps forward to vouch for her' +hat raises this scene to the level of national melodrama is (a @iWu3s subse#uent revelation that the entire escape was a theatrical stunt! staged by -d @hanh Ewhose name! incidentally! has become the standard Iietnamese epithet for a conniving Don 2uanF and (adame ,X to brea) @iWu into service' -ure enough! -d @hanh bra%enly saunters into the brothel a few wee)s later! as if nothing had happened' <ut when he threatens to assault @iWu for slandering him! she fights bac) with the only weapon she has& she presents his original note as evidence! and sways her fellow brothel$wor)ers to her side with a dramatic speech one of the first great depictions of national mobili%ation in Iietnamese literature' G; ,he triple mobili%ation of the written word employed first as a means of communication! second as a means of betrayal! and thirdly as a means of self$defense forms a veritable =egelian triad! wherein (a @iWu3s words of solidarity Espo)en IietnameseF and -d @hanh3s letter of betrayal Ewritten 1G

ChineseF are sublated in the document of "uridical evidence' ,he upshot of the entire episode is that @iWu has finally become the national "uridical sub"ect we have been loo)ing for! i'e' she is transformed from the mere ob"ect of hieratic e4propriation into the e#uivalent of an indentured craft$laborer' ,his is nowhere more obvious than the passage where (adame ,X gilds the art of the oldest profession with the newest rhetoric of accumulation& ,he mirror of the moon was shining bright (adame ,X sat down by @iWu and lectured her& B,he trade of love! my girl! ta)es care and pains! and we who ply it must )now all its tric)s'C B1 am the toy of winds and storms!C @iWu said' B1f 1 must give my body! so be itiC ,he bawd continued& B(en are all ali)e& ,hey3ll get their money3s worth or won3t come here' ,here are more things to love than meet the eye and ways to cope with men by day or dar)' @now these by heart learn seven ploys to catch and hold a man! eight ways to please in bed' 9lay love with them until you3ve played them out! till heads must swim! till hearts of stone must spin' 5ow flirt with eyebrows! now co#uet with lips' 5ow sing the moon! now sport among the flowers' ,here you have it! our house3s stoc) in trade& learn it and be a mistress of our craftiCGV ,he mercantile symbol of the mirror$li)e moon and @iWu3s reference to the proto$national storm brac)et a henceforth semi$autar)ic accumulation process! a')'a' the allegorical sale of female bodies to male customers who are not #uite nobilitarian patrons but not yet coldly calculating entrepreneurs' 1nasmuch as the labor of these female bodies! in turn! consists of e#ually allegorical theatrical performances! the entire scene comes scandalously close to a self$ indictment of the literati in the dynastic system' ,his will be confirmed in spades by @iWu3s second great love$interest! namely @Z ,hPm ,hXc! the spendthrift scion of a well$to$do merchant family' +hereas the affinity between @im and @iWu played itself out in terms of a utopian national temporality! the bond between @iWu and ,hXc follows a specifically spatial logic! wherein the politics of semi$autar)ic accumulation are set in motion towards the thematic material of the dynastic household' One of the first results is the plebiani%ation of various lyric forms! which are drained of their hieratic content and transformed into decorative elements& (oon and flower! flower and moon loving each other passionately& on a spring night! how can one #uell the heart] Of course! when sound and spirit Mthanh$)hiN meet! one tie soon binds them in a )not none can yan) loose' ,hey3d stay together! e4change peaches by day and plums by night' *irst it was still an affair of the moon and wind! later it became a matter of stone and 1;

bron%e'G: 1t is significant that the te4tile metaphor of the )not or woven fabric is transposed onto the proto$ national abstraction of Bsound and spiritC! the ellipsis of a Chinese poetic metaphor referring to li)e meeting li)e' +e already )now that the early Iietnamese nation$state did not have the option of e4trapolating a politics of national identity from an oceanic colonialism Ethe <ritish solutionF! or interpolating one from the surplus$rents of the river$valley Ethe Chinese solutionF' 5guyLn opts for an une4pected third possibility& this is the geographic intermediation between the ocean and the river$valley! namely the coastal region or shoreline' ,his is the genesis of a whole series of coast$related metaphors which anchor @iWu3s allegorical sub"ectivity in the space of the national mar)etplace! everywhere from romantic accolades EB0 woman3s charms! O waves that topple city walls ^ that tumble homes and topple halls li)e toysiCFG7 to the outrage of ,hXc3s father at his son3s infatuation EBOver a peaceful earth the waves now surgedCF'G6 ,his in turn lends retroactive depth to @iWu3s previous lament! B=ow can an eel mind muddying its headC& while the image is rooted in the concrete e4perience of fishing in estuaries or shorelines! the metaphor has the spatial connotation of some sort of coastal %one of accumulation! halfway between the fishing village and the mercantile entrepot' 5o less interesting is the e4plicit confluence of money with the category of aesthetic appearance! hinting at the historical agents of coastal accumulation& Young ,hXc! who s#uandered money with both hands! could spend his all on one seductive smile' ,he bawd would slee) @iWu3s hair! would paint her face the stench of coins e4cites the blood with greed';0 Keaving aside the *reudian overtones of this olfactory characteri%ation of money! the fundamental issue here is that the brothel3s semi$autar)ic mode of accumulation the e4change of craft$labor for merchant wealth was meant to transform monetary wealth into symbolic wealth! i'e' surplus funds are reinvested in lu4ury goods for the brothel! as well as fresh brothel$ wor)ers' <y contrast! @iWu3s affair with ,hXc hints at #uite a different logic of e4change! namely the e4change of symbolic wealth for symbolic wealth something typified by the BlA$shihC or ,3ang$style poems they write for each other' One of the most characteristic features of the second half of Kiu is the symbolic disruption! displacement or outright negation of poetic forms by a nascent prose realism' @iWu3s refusal to answer one of ,hXc3s poems triggers a lengthy dialogue! wherein @iWu pours out her E#uite prescientF fears and an4ieties over her new career as a consort! while ,hXc responds with a barrage of promises and prete4ts the displacement of the lA$shih by that intriguing .ast 0sian variant of the +estern .uropean bourgeois family melodrama! namely the concubine narrative' ;1 ,hough the full flowering of this form would not occur until the 20 th century! it3s significant that ,hXc3s own version of the national pledge EB-ince we have )nown each other!C he replied! ^ BMfor youN my heart has privately borne nothing but Ma vow of love sworn in sight ofN streams and hillsCF;2 is upstaged by the space of coastal e4change& M,hXc continues&N B-ince 13ve already decided Mto etch my troth inN stone and bron%e! M13llN brave even the winds and the waves'C ,he two e4changed all secrets of their souls! 1V

pledging their troth in sight of sea and hills' ;3 ,he e4change of sentiments which mar)ed the %enith of @iWu3s romance with @im EB,heir hearts3 recesses they e4plored and probedCF;G is supplanted by the e4change of secrets' ,he flip side of this newfound interiority is the belated arrival of a formal "uridical sphere! in the guise of the prefect who arrests @iWu at the behest of ,hXc3s enraged father' 1n contrast to the earlier bit character of Chung! the sympathetic literati who arranged for the release of the ,hXy family! the prefect incarnates the symbolic economy of the dynastic sphere! as opposed to the commercial economy of the mercantile sphere' 0fter a ferocious cross$e4amination! the prefect commands @iWu to produce a poem entitled B,he CangueC to prove her merit' ,he result so astonishes and delights him! however! that he reconciles all the parties involved by decreeing a wedding for the lovers' (ore is at sta)e here than the double irony of the poem3s title i'e' the fact that @iWu had been put into shac)les! while her only possible means of escape was to evo)e her unfreedom on the written page' *rom a structural point of view! the final poem is @iWu3s belated return volley! the lA$shih which completes the previously disrupted e4change of poems' <ut the volley does not return to ,hXc in its original form& the oral delivery of the original poem has been supplanted by its written e4pression! while its spontaneous reception accedes to the canoni%ing or critical reading' Chinese poetic form has become Iietnamese prose content! something subtly underlined by the prefect3s hyperbolic e4clamation& Bj1t M@iWu3s poemN tops the height of the ,3angi3 he cried in praise' B0ll gold Mprecious metalN on earth can3t buy her gifts and charms'C ;; 5ot only is the metric of the ,3ang dynasty! the revered model of the Iietnamese literati! implicitly devalued! but @iWu3s literary ability is raised to a position outside of the realm of mercantile accumulation the founding moment of the autonomous or national literary field' ,his suggests! in turn! that @iWu3s shotgun marriage is more than "ust a didactic plot twist! but represents a full$fledged containment strategy! in 2ameson3s words! designed to #uell the glaring contradiction between her allegorical national sub"ectivity and her status as a subaltern sub"ect' ,his will be confirmed somewhat later! when we learn that the secret of ,hXc3s status was a fortunate marriage into the upper echelons of the literati order& his first wife! =ofn! was the daughter of the head of the powerful Civil Office <oard' +hat ultimately dooms this strategy! then! is the same historical constellation which led 5guyLn to cast @iWu as the central character in the first place& this is the historical failure of ,hXc3s social stratum! the upper mercantile elite! to generate a coherent nationalism or politics of national identity or put another way! the inability of the literati to transcend the politics of dynastic rule' ,his is why ,hXc3s inability to tell =ofn about @iWu! the fatal silence which gives =ofn the opportunity to wage her subse#uent scorched earth campaign against her upstart rival! is not a personal character$flaw or wea)ness' Rather! it e4presses the fundamental essence of the literati as a political entity& ab"ect loyalty to the mightiest clan or dynastic faction' 5guyLn will implicitly re"ection of the dead$end of literati politics! by setting @iWu3s allegorical sub"ectivity in motion towards an e#ually allegorical dynastic space' ,his effectively nationali%es the materials of the dynastic drama! in much the same way that -ha)espeare3s theater nationali%ed the materials of the Reformation$era history$play' =enceforth! the drama of hieratic lineage will be upstaged by the drama of national succession' @iWu3s gloomy intuition of 1:

the ocean depths provides the opening salvo of this campaign& B,he mistress of your household Mi'e' =ofnN so 13ve heard does what is proper! says what is correct' Oh! how 1 dread all such uncommon soulsi 1t3s hard to plumb the ocean3s pits and depths'C;V ,his is not only the canny rewriting of a prior moment! which referred to the newlyweds in a fol)loric conte4t EB,he bamboo and the plum tree lived together in one home Mi'e' the lovers "oinedN! ^ their love grew deeper! deeper than the seaCF! ;: it is also the plebian inversion of the =eavenly abode of the gods' +hat is so fearsome about =ofn! in short! is the fact that she cannot be read& the crisis of dynastic representation is echoed by the crisis of hieratic presentation' ,he flip side of this double crisis is! of course! the unprecedented aesthetic opportunity of national realism! and it3s no accident that when ,hXc decides to return to @iWu! his eager anticipation suddenly transforms the previously drab countryside into the ma"estic national panorama& =is horse flew him across strange streams and hills MnUdc nonN& waters! all gleaming! mirrors for the s)y! walls wreathed in sapphire mist! pea)s gilt with sun';7 Ruic) as he is! =ofn3s scheme of revenge is still #uic)er& the moment he departs! she dispatches two thugs named =ound and =aw) in a sailing vessel to )idnap @iWu' /nder cover of dar)ness! they snea) into the ,hXc family compound and drug her into unconsciousness' <efore carrying her off! however! they substitute an anonymous corpse for her body! and then burn down the library of the family compound! to convince the family of her demise' ,his is by no means the petty mercantile or nobilitarian intrigue one might thin)' 2ust as the seascape anticipated the national panorama! so too does this mercantile deed anticipate the national drama of internment& when @iWu is brought before =ofn! the latter is sitting in state upon a regal throne! and promptly commands that the newcomer be brutally thrashed! renamed *lower! and assigned the menial duties of a household slave' ,his symbolic e4propriation! renaming! and alienation of the national literary corpus has a genuine historical precedent! namely the Chinese invasion and thirty$year occupation of Iietnam in the early 1; th century! suggesting that 5guyLn is aiming at nothing less than the narrative of national occupation' ,his is confirmed by the dire scene of ,hXc3s return! when =ofn openly parades @iWu before him! )nowing full well he dare not transgress against the rules of the dynastic system by ac)nowledging his covert marriage' @iWu3s response drives the nail into the coffin of the marriage$plot& B0s bride and groom we two were duly "oined she splits us into slave and master now' ,he face displays sweet smiles! but deep inside the heart will scheme to )ill without a )nife'C ;6 1t3s important to stress that =ofn is by no means a stereotypical villain! but is acting strictly according to the letter of dynastic politics! i'e' employing her clan3s symbolic hegemony to crush an interloper devoid of powerful connections or wealth' ,he )ey antinomy here is the dawning 17

recognition that slavery and domination are inherent in the hieratic marriage! or put another way! the fact that =ofn3s true heart and false face are the logical end$product of the marriage$system3s true face and false heart' ,o be sure! the entire episode of internment is shot through with similar antinomies& @iWu3s all$forgiving forbearance somehow draws the fire of =ofn3s all$consuming "ealousyO the une4pected "oy of ,hXc3s homecoming celebration degenerates into stage$managed humiliationO and even @iWu3s musical talents are transformed into a means of heaping further humiliation on the former couple' ,he one enabling moment of resistance to the marriage$system! on the other hand! is delivered by a sympathetic stewardess the fourth counter$player who appears on the scene and gives @iWu a crash course in dynastic politics& -he3d give @iWu tea or medicine for her wounds! and some advice on how to stay alive& B0ccept whatever happens! good or ill a willow or a rush! though! should ta)e care of its frail self' 9erhaps you must atone for some past sin! but malice brought you here! and not pure chance' <eware around here there are ears on walls even as there are chin)s in wattles' 1f you see your old friend! you loo) away! or lightning bolts will stri)e you from the blue' +hen wronged! can bees and ants demand redress]CV0 B<ees and antsC is a standard metaphor for downtrodden commoners! a significantly plebian reference! while the reference to chin)s in wattles is the Iietnamese e#uivalent of Bthe walls have earsC' ,his functional paranoia comes very close to the rationali%ed paranoia of the mar)et$ based sub"ect! who is either constantly on the prowl for a profit$ma)ing opportunity Ethe capitalist version of the storyF! or constantly impelled to sell their labor$power to the mar)etplace Ethe proletarian version of the storyF! and we will see later how 5guyLn resurfaces the caste registers at his disposal with class identities' *or the moment! however! it3s worth pointing out that the stewardess has identified the )ey wea)ness of the dynastic system& this is its dependence on the identity$politics of clan alliances' ,o survive! @iWu must ta)e care of herself! which means casting off her clan affiliations' @iWu will immediately put this advice into practice! by serving as a model servant and carefully avoiding any open confrontation with =ofn! while biding her time for a chance to turn the tables on =ofn' ,his finally occurs when =ofn! still eager for more information! grills her about her past! and pressures ,hXc to force her to spea)' @iWu responds by writing a carefully edited prose account of her past the first e4plicit reference to a wor) of prose narration in the entire wor)' +here @iWu3s imaginary poem swayed efm ,ign! her lute$playing swayed @im! her fidelity swayed Chung! her note swayed the brothel$wor)ers! and her poem swayed the prefect! her artful prose account sways =ofn! to the point that she permits @iWu to become an attendant at a <uddhist shrine! i'e' her menial duties as a household servant accede to the tas) of copying and reciting religious te4ts' ,his is! of course! the classic posture of the e4iled literati forced to retreat from dynastic politics to the monastery! and it is here that @iWu3s lac) of formal literati status pays its greatest dividends' 1nstead of retreating to the magical wish$fulfillments of the spirit$ world! along the lines of %ourney to the West! 5guyLn mobili%es the trope of the e4iled literati against the institution of the literati proper' 0s soon as =ofn is away on a visit! ,hXc arranges to 16

visit @iWu3s shrine and delivers the following news& BOh! 1 would brave all perils and all ris)s to stay with you! in death if not in life' <ut to my forebears 1 still owe an heir 13ll clench my teeth and cut our bond in two' 1 let stone brea) and bron%e fade Mi'e' brea) my vowN redeem the shame of one pledged word un)ept]C -he said& B0 cypress boat that rides the waves (ay float or sin) as fortune will dictate' +hile 1 was floundering in the swamp of vice! how could 1 ever hope to live till now] 1t is my part to play a drop from a downpour that falls at random as spectators watch'C V1

could my ne4t hundred lives

,he cypress boat is a classical Chinese metaphor for a frail craft in constant danger of capsi%ing! but the role reversal of the discussion is startlingly modern& all the tears and hand$holding cannot hide the obvious fact that ,hXc is selling her out' 5ot only does his personal pledge turn out to be printed on worthless nobilitarian paper! but he does not ma)e even a to)en effort to help her flee or otherwise shield her from =ofn3s wrath' <ut when =ofn une4pectedly wal)s in on the pair! the impending ban)ruptcy of the literati caste is leveraged into another currency altogether& a sympathetic housemaid! the fifth counter$player! whispers to @iWu that =ofn had secretly watched her entire conversation with ,hXc from start to finish' ,his is the emergence of a full$ fledged national performativity! located halfway between the -ha)espearean spectator and the national readership of Richardson3s Clarissa' @iWu3s response is an admi4ture of horror! fascination! and what can only be described as covert professional respect& B13ll never loo) upon her li)e again' ,hat was true self$command! that was pure sham' ,he merest thought of her will ma)e the flesh creep' +here else to find a woman of such depths]CV2 9ut another way! the spectators @iWu previously invo)ed are now endowed with their appropriate content& the national performance finally has its the nascent literary audience' =ofn3s ambiguous narrative role thus strongly parallels the 8erman philosophical term of B-cheinC or appearance! that conceptual abstraction which is somehow realer than reality itselfO only where the latter registers the arrival of paper money and the national credit economy! the former signals the arrival of a national critical sphere the realm charged with "udging whether or not a performance is authentically national' *aced with this double betrayal by her former sponsor and her arch$nemesis! seemingly at her wits end! @iWu does the single bravest thing she has ever done' Rather than passively embracing her fate! she grabs a few precious items from the altar and flees from the shrine the double negation of the monastic retreat and the literati e4ile ali)e' ,he result is this da%%ling moment of early realism such as the following& ,hrough wooded hills! sand trails immersed in mistO 20

coc)crow from moon$lit hutsO fresh mar)s of shoes on dew$soa)ed bridge' 0long the path! at night! a girl braved wind and weather wal)ing on'V3 0ll the relevant national aesthetic categories put in an appearance here' 1n the bac)ground! the invariable bridge is framed against the national panorama of hills and streams! while a new aesthetic register the moon$lit huts and pathless sand$trails complements @iWu3s solitary footsteps' ,he scene has the density of an early urban center! something reconfirmed somewhat later! when @iWu tells the prioress of a nearby shrine that she is an itinerant mendicant from the capital city the first outright lie she has ever told! and her first attempt to cloa) her identity' +hat is lost during the transition to this realism! of course! is the henceforth unrealistic possibility of clinging to an earlier identity$politics! whether of monastic or literati derivation' ,he initial symbol of this transition was efm ,ign! who appeared first as a locali%ed ghost and only later as an otherworldly emissary and counter$player' ,he prioress! a )indly woman named 8ibc Duygn! will play a similar double role as a bit character and! much later! as the si4th and final counter$player' 8ibc3s initial function is hinted at by the gifts which @iWu presents to 8ibc& a golden bell and silver gong! i'e' monetary values which ta)e the form of hieratic gifts! and it would not be an e4aggeration to claim that their relocation from =ofn3s shrine to that of 8ibc follows the logic of a commercial transaction& the withdrawal of symbolic capital from the mercantile sphere and its redeployment in the theological realm' 8ibc! in short! is the distant but recogni%able prototype of the money$changer or ban)er' <ut when a passing pilgrim stops and recogni%es the golden bell and silver gong as =ofn3s property the symbolic reassertion of the power of the clan over the power of the theological institution 8ibc tells @iWu she must flee! unwittingly consigning her to the clutches of a certain (adame <fc! who promises to shelter her' 0las! <fc turns out to be the dismal repetition of (adame ,X! duping her into yet another a bogus arranged marriage Ethe husband promptly hustles @iWu aboard a ship! sets sail! and sells her into a brothel at a distant portF' *rom the standpoint of a mature +estern .uropean realism! this turn of events defies belief! simply because we )now @iWu is far from dumb and has already gone through this charade once before' 8iven the heavily allegorical substructure of early Iietnamese realism! however! this se#uence ma)es perfect sense& @iWu is not a rationali%ed individual sub"ect! see)ing to ma4imi%e her personal benefit on a competitive mar)etplace' Rather! she is an allegorical figure meant to embody the mar)eti%ation of Iietnamese society in the first place' =er tra"ectory traces out a circuit of symbolic e4change! lin)ing the mercantile clan to the first brothel! to the upper literati household! to the dynastic household! to the monastery! and finally to the second brothel' ,he result is an ?$ray of the phases of primitive accumulation& the disaster which impoverishes the rural agrarian producerO the prostitution which symboli%es rural primitive accumulationO the marriage which symboli%es the literati officeO the family intrigue which symboli%es dynastic appropriationO and the monastic retreat which symboli%es the theocratic speculation' On closer inspection! the second brothel is not a retreat to rural primitive accumulation! but a step forwards to the space of urban accumulation& at the unnamed port city! @iWu is sold at a competitive auction! hinting at the e4istence of multiple brothels loc)ed into mar)et competition with each other' 2ust as Defoe3s Moll &landers maps out the geopolitical space of .nglish agrarian capitalism *landers is born in Colchester! moves to Kondon! and eventually ma)es her fortune in the 0merican colony of Iirginia so too does Kiu trac) the prehistory of the Iietnamese 21

national mar)et from the countryside to the commercial trading$post or entrepot! and finally to the port facility where the surplus$value of the entire river$valley begins to concentrate' 1t is here! in a social space which is not yet a city but no longer a village! that @iWu will meet her third and final romantic partner' ,his is none other than ,t =ui! the staunch hero who will become the icon of the national revolutionary& 0 tiger3s beard! a swallow3s "aw! and brows as thic) as sil)worms he stood broad and tall' 0 towering hero! he outfought all foes with club or fist and )new all arts of war' Carrying heaven on his head and trampling the earth! he lived in the world! he was ,t =ui! a native of YAeh$tung' On rivers and la)es he was used to the pleasure of roaming at large! Carrying a sword and a lute as half a load on each shoulder and plying one oar through hills and streams' 1n town for fun! he heard loud praises of @iWu love for a woman bent a hero3s will' =e brought his calling card to her boudoir thus eyes met eyes and heart encountered heart' B,he heart and bosom have met!C Mi'e' B,wo )indred souls have "oinedCN ,t said to @iWu'VG +hat might seem to be a straightforward action hero is! in reality! one of the most elaborately constructed anti$colonial ruses of all time' ,t3s portrait is based on a legendary Chinese rebel from the ,3ang era! =uang Ch3ao! and the seventh and eighth lines of the passage #uoted above Ei'e' lines 21:3$21:G in the originalF are even an ellipsis of one of Ch3ao3s poems' 8iven that Iietnam won its historic independence during the latter part of the ,3ang era! roughly a century after =uang Ch3ao3s rebellion! one might argue that 5guyLn is turning the poetic heritage of the ,3ang era against itself' +hat complicates this reading! however! is the fact that =uang Ch3ao was a literati! while Ch3ing$hsin ,s3ai$"en3s version of the story casts ,t as "ust another roving merchant' <ut 5guyLn3s protagonist is neither a merchant nor a literatiO nor is his military prowess lin)ed to service in a nobilitarian or dynastic household' 1n fact! the details of ,t3s family bac)ground are left utterly blan) a scandalous absence which is the flip side of a new )ind of national presence' ,he clearest evidence for this is the line! BCarrying heaven on his head and trampling the earthC! the forthright plebiani%ation of the figure of the .mperor! suggesting that ,t3s narrative role is roughly comparable to 9russia3s *rederic) 11! Russia3s 9eter the 8reat! or 2apan3s ,o)ugawa 1eyasu i'e' the e4emplar of a nation$building 0bsolutism' +hat displaces the lesser authority of the mercantile bill of sale and the literati writ! on the other hand! is that far less spectacular but e#ually important phenomenon! the =abermasian public sphere' ,his is apparent everywhere from the public reputation which attracts ,t to @iWu in the first place! all the way to the egalitarian e#uivalence of the heart$for$heart and the glance$ for$glance Ethe belated reali%ation of the national affinity of @iWu3s romance with @im! cf' footnote 16F' ,he result is that @iWu is suddenly endowed with positively @antian powers of critical "udgement! enabling her to descry the future national hero from the run$of$the$mill customer& 22

B+ithin 1 crave the touchstone for the gold but whom can 1 turn to and give my heart] 0s for all those who come and go through here! am 1 allowed to sift real gold from brass]C V; 1n the framewor) of national allegory! @iWu is thus the a4ial hinge between the gilded or decorated touchstone halfway between the sacred family shrine and the merely sanctified domestic sphere or hearth and the "uridical sphere charged with regulating the mercantile e4change$net' ,his suggests! in turn! that the freely$chosen union of the lovers EB,wo minds at one! two hearts in unison ^ /nbidden! love will see) those meant for loveCF VV is something li)e the utopian alliance of the national shrine and the 0bsolutist monarch the formula of a revolutionary politics which will sha)e the dynastic system to its foundations' +hat stamps Kiu as one of the transcendent wor)s of world literature is its capacity to endow the category of national form with its corresponding political content! or put more concretely still! to unite @iWu3s allegorical national sub"ect with ,t3s utopian national government' +e will go so far as to suggest that the usual biographical interpretation of 5guyLn as a political @iWu! i'e' a self$effacing literati nostalgic for the old order! who e4pressed his dissatisfaction with the new masters in poetic form! needs to be supplemented by the insight that @iWu is very much a political 5guyLn' +hatever 5guyLn3s nominal dynastic allegiances may or may not have been! his aesthetic wor) is a powerful criti#ue of the dynastic system as a whole' ,his criti#ue begins with the clarion call of an all$embracing national mobili%ation! which will transform the dynastic concept of the heavens as well as the earth' ,he s)y the ultimate signifier of dynastic authority is now the dwelling$space of the roc EBshe tore himself away and left ^ wind$winged! the roc Mb`ngN soared to hunt the s)iesCF! V: a giant bird straight out of Chinese mythology which has roughly the same heroic resonance as the 0merican eagle or the .uropean haw)' 5guyLn will immediately rein in the nobilitarian overtones of this metaphor! however! by deploying a rather different avian metaphor& 0fter the wild goose MhTngN vanished into space! she )ept her eyes fast set on heaven3s edge' 1n silence she was waiting! night and day when through the region roared the flames of war' 8ray phantoms! fumes of slaughter leapt the s)ies as shar)s roved streams and armored men prowled roads'V7 ,he Iietnamese meaning of the wild goose is the diametric opposite of the .nglish e4pression Bwild goose chaseC! and refers to someone who soars above the crowd by virtue of individual initiative Ethe .nglish e#uivalent would be Bflight of an eagleCF' ,he earth undergoes a similar plebiani%ation! as the roads turn into a logistical networ) of supply routes and military encampments! while the reference to shar)s roving in streams hints at the infiltration of oceanic processes of accumulation into the village economy' 1n the long sweep of .ast 0sian history! this passage represents a profound rupture from the storied litanies of military stratagems! feats of valor! and epic battles handed down by the Chinese classics of 'andits of the Marsh and #oman(e of the Three Kingdoms' ,he reason is that 5guyLn3s battalions are marching to a plebian rather than a martial tune& when ,t sets out on his "ourney! for e4ample! his first act is to triangulate between the sea and the s)y! symbolically 23

plumbing the lowest depths and highest reaches of Iietnamese society EB=e ga%ed afar on sea and heaven! then ^ he leapt into the saddle with his swordCF' V6 Conversely! @iWu3s refusal to stir from her new household and her unsha)able faith in ,t3s eventual return echoes the centuries$ old determination of Iietnamese peasants to hold on to their ancestral lands despite famine! war or natural disaster' ,he eventual reuniting of the lovers thus amounts to the unification of 0bsolutist form with its national$allegorical content E,t3s apt remar)& B+hen fish and water MnUdcN meet! ^ it3s loveiCF' ,his brea)through generates two new social spaces& the national assembly and the national "uridical system' ,he first is clearly centered around ,t3s court! though one can argue that the arrival of =ofn3s stewardess and 8ibc as honored guests represents the allegorical transfer of authority from the dynastic and hieratic realms to a nascent public sphere' ,he sphere of "ustice! however! is @iWu3s domain' 1t is stri)ing that instead of simply commanding her enemies to be brought forth! she binds the common soldiers to her! by ta)ing the time to convince them as to why they should be acting on her behalf in the first place& @iWu briefed all soldiers! swearing them to actO 0ll! outraged! vowed to e4ecute her will' :0 ,he model nationalism of the national shrine generates the plebian national oath' ,he flip side of this oath is the ritual ab"uration or denunciation of the oath$brea)er! displayed when -cholar (p! (adame ,X! -d @hanh! and (adame <fc and her nephew are all brought forth and then punished according to the letter of the oaths they once swore before @iWu! before proceeding to brea)' 0t the same time! @iWu showers a surprising degree of mercy on =ofn and ,hXc' ,he latter is simply forgiven! while the former is given the privilege of not only hearing the charges against her! but offering a personal defense' ,errified out of her wits! =ofn inadvertently saves her own life by revealing that she did not pursue @iWu once the latter fled the shrine! and that her motives were entirely personal& B+hat woman! though! would gladly share her man]C :1 she blurts out! correctly identifying the concubine system itself as the source of the evil Esignificantly! no such clemency is shown towards =ound and =aw)! whose only real sin was to carry out =ofn3s schemeF' ,here is no #uestion! though! that the entire "udgement episode represents an enormous leap forwards from the dynastic era' 1n Ch3ing$hsin ,s3ai$"en3s novel! =ofn is viciously tortured Ethough not )illedF and! in =uZnh3s words! B.ach of those condemned to death was e4ecuted in a special fashion! with all the gruesome details carefully and gleefully described'C :2 <ut in 5guyLn3s version! =ofn is released unharmed! while the multiple e4ecutions are compressed into a single couplet! which emphasi%es the horror of the scene' (ost of all! 5guyLn ta)es pains to detail the audience3s reaction to the event! transforming the nobilitarian revenge drama into the theater of a national$revolutionary "ustice! the rough e#uivalent of the spectacle of the guillotine during the *rench revolution& B0ll soldiers! crowded on the grounds! could watch ^ the scourge divine deal "ustice in broad dayC' :3 8iven that ,t3s ascent to warlord status as well as his salutary fall is a thinly$ disguised parable of the fate of the ,Py -Qn uprising! it3s not terribly surprising that the limits of this revolutionary theater are the limits of the spontaneous peasant uprising as a political phenomenon' ,his runs deeper than the insight that ,t3s uncharacteristic decision to abase himself before the imperial authorities is meant to stress the unbro)en continuity of dynastic rule and to gloss over its disruption by an incipient nationalism' ,he contradiction is nicely summed 2G

up by @iWu3s wishful thin)ing that she could still somehow re"oin the dynastic order& B0 lord3s own consort! head erect! 13ll wal) and ma)e my parents glow with pride and "oy' ,hen! both the state above! my home below! 13ll have well served as liege and daughter both' 1s that not better than to float and drift! a cypress boat the waves and waters hurl about]C:G ,he irreconcilable historical contradiction here is that the power of the dynastic state as well as the profits of the mercantile home are based on the labor of peasant agrarian producers' ,o genuinely replace the solidarity of clan identity$politics with the abstract allegiance to a nation$ state would re#uire a massive reconstitution of society a polite way of saying! the brea)ing of the literati monopoly on education and the hieratic monopoly on ideology! and the sort of revolutionary land reforms and mobili%ation of the peasant masses carried out by the Iiet (inh' 5one of this was possible in 5guyLn3s day! and one can argue that the symbolic implosion of ,t3s reign and @iWu3s "uridical power EBOh! strange affinity of two wronged soulsi ^ 0s she collapsed! he too fell down with herCF:; accurately registers the historical irony that the ,Py -Qn could defeat the former Iietnamese dynasty as well as the e4ternal threat of the Chinese .mpire! but could not uproot the dynastic system as a whole' +hat 5guyLn will do ne4t! however! represents one of the most audacious acts of narrative subversion ever underta)en on the written page' 1nstead of accepting the return of dynastic order and singing the praises of the new ruling cli#ue! he will broaden his unwittingly guerilla campaign! by transforming one of the )ey inde4es of Chinese culture namely! the rift between the imperial center and the barbarian periphery into a national geography' ,he stage is set by @iWu3s audience with the victorious mandarin! Kord =T& ,he lord forced @iWu to wait on him half drun)! he bade her play the lute she3d daily played' 1t moaned li)e wind and rain five fingertips dripped blood upon four strings' +hen gibbons howl! cicadas wail! they cannot match such grief' =T listened! )nitting brows and shedding tears' =e as)ed& B+hat are you playing there] 1t sounds li)e all the world3s dar) sorrows rolled into one'C B(y lord! this tune3s called Cruel *ate!C she said' B1 wrote it for the lute when 1 was young! in days long gone' <ut now! of cruel fate you have a victim under your own eyes'C .ntranced! he heard herO spellbound! he watched her' O miracle! love disturbed an iron mas)i :V 1n this pungent satire of the 8ia Kong restoration! =T is little more than a drun)en! vainglorious oaf! tone$deaf to the intricacies of @iWu3s te4t' =e humors her re#uest to bury ,t! and then proceeds to have a one$night stand with her! before brus#uely consigning her to a tribal chieftain via an arranged marriage' @iWu3s performance is more than a lament! it is a protest against the 2;

hieratic category of fate which later bears fruit' *illed with remorse for ,t3s loss! and spurred into action by the prospect of yet another forced marriage! @iWu ta)es her fate into her own hands! by writing a farewell poem and then casting herself into the river' 8iven the structural importance of the river$valley to Iietnamese culture! one can argue that @iWu3s act symboli%es the dissolution of national allegory into the stream of natural history' Certainly! her closing words echo ,t3s fateful ga%e into the ocean and s)y! only where ,t ventured outwards! @iWu will turn inwards EB,o waves and s)ies let me entrust my heartCF' :: (ost significant of all! the mirror previously a nobilitarian or mercantile trope suddenly flashes with an e4traordinary new image& *or fifteen years! how often she held up a mirror where all women see themselvesi:7 0t this moment! @iWu has not only re"ected the entire spectrum of gender roles in the dynastic order! she has also repudiated the entire social geography of that order! ranging from the imperial center and the barbarian periphery' +hat ta)es the place of the clan$solidarity! however briefly! is the imputed solidarity of all women in all social stations! both high and low' ,hough this solidarity vanishes as #uic)ly as it appears! its after$image lingers on in the form of 8ibc3s rescue s#uad' 1nformed by a prophetess of @iWu3s future doom! 8ibc assumes the role of the si4th and final counter$player! by casting a net across the river and waiting patiently for @iWu3s arrival' 1n particular! the scene of the rescue rewrites the conclusion of %ourney to the West in a secular vein! i'e' whereas ,ripita)a3s soul is cleansed of its corporeal form at the gates of the blessed realm! @iWu3s reawa)ening symboli%es the resurrection of the national flesh' 0s if to confirm this! efm ,ign puts in a final appearance! this time as the cameo voice$over of 5guyLn himself& B+ho can match your true heart! despite past sins] =eaven has noticed it& a loving child! you sold yourselfO an altruist! you saved lives' Your country MnUdcN and your people MdPnN you served well' -uch hidden merits have now tipped the scale' Your name3s now struc) from the <oo) of the Damned your poems writ in sorrow 13ll give bac)'C:6 ,he first usage of BnUdcC in an e4plicitly national conte4t is accompanied by the startlingly modern notion of serving the people EBdPnC means Bciti%enCF! as opposed to a dynastic lord or nobilitarian elite' ,he aesthetic wor) redeems itself! by becoming @iWu3s individual property or! more precise! her personal history a history which reflects! as we )now! the political history of all women in a virulently patriarchal society' 1t is here! in a space which is no longer the traditional river$valley but not yet the 9acific Rim entrepot EB0 vast! vast space around tides rose and fell ^ from dawn to dus) within a cage of cloudsCF! 70 that 5guyLn will invent the idea of the national past' One of the hallmar)s of the 8ia Kong era was an outpouring of sociological and political wor)s which sifted through the dynastic past! in an attempt to thin) through the foundations of the new regime Emost famously! 9han =uy Chu3s magisterial historiography! The Classified Sur)ey of the *nstitutions of Su((essi)e Courts F'71 and 5guyLn3s own concept of national temporality will be relayed by two intriguing literary innovations' ,he first is the narrative 2V

caesura after line 2:37! which turns the cloc) bac) fifteen years and recounts the travails of @im3s decades$long search for @iWu' One of the interesting side$effects is the emergence of a #uasi$"ournalistic realism! apparent everywhere in the precise! concrete observations of @im3s mourning process! the details of his marriage to IPn! not to mention sundry details such as the s#ualor of the ,hXy residence! shortly after @iWu3s disappearance& 0 tattered hut! a roof of thatch! mud wallsO reed blinds in rags! bamboo screens punched with holesO a rain$soa)ed yard where nothing grew but weeds& the sight distressed and shoc)ed him all the more' 72 ,he second innovation is the emergence of formal strategies of historical narration! e4emplified by the various subaltern cler)s who gradually fill in the details of @iWu3s tra"ectory! piece by piece' 1n particular! cler) e[3s account compresses nearly three thousand lines of poetry! intrigue and adventure into a mere twenty$two lines a minor masterpiece of prose narration' 73 *inally convinced that she has passed away! @im and the ,hXys set up a riverban) shrine in honor of her memory a shrine which 8ibc inadvertently runs into! thereby fulfilling her narrative function as the agency of @iWu3s return' +hen the past finally catches up with the present! the result is the bittersweet realism of @im and @iWu3s long$delayed romantic adventure& he immediately wants to marry her! rendering her a concubine Ehe has already married IPnF' -he initially refuses! and agrees only on the condition that they live together as friends instead of lovers' 7G ,his ambiguous compromise between the concubine system and the marriage$contract corresponds to the e#ually ambiguous e4pansion of the state apparatus during 8ia Kong3s reign! which preached the ideology of conservative restoration while practicing a surprisingly advanced royal mercantilism Ethe 8ia Kong dynasty undertoo) huge settlement pro"ects in the (e)ong river$valley! commissioned a wealth of national histories! and carried out a sophisticated land measurement programF' 7; ,hough the arrival of *rench colonialism would derail Iietnam3s fledgling 0bsolutist state! it3s worth pointing out that this ambiguity does generate one final micropolitical moment& this is 8ibc3s disappearance! or the moment that the last remnants of the hieratic order fall into national history' ,he living community of religion vanishes! leaving behind only the ruins of 8ibc3s hutO the ,hXys construct an e4pensive temple! but the spirit which dwells therein is that of commercial accumulation' 5guyLn3s last words testify to the fragility of that spirit& 1n talent ta)e no overweening pride! for talent and disaster form a pair' Our )arma we must carry as our lot let3s stop decrying =eaven3s whims and #uir)s' 1nside ourselves there lies the root of good& the heart outweighs all talents of this earth' 7V ,he national heart now outweighs both literati talent and nobilitarian destiny' ,his can be mapped out semiotically as follows&

2:

@iWu Enational allegoryF Mnational identityN *idelity M*reely$chosen bond or pledgeN not$dynastic order& the heart Mnational allegianceN Mnational performance& prose addressN vs' Mclan$politicsN Dynastic order Mmercantile accumulationN not$fidelity& @iWu3s counter$players

27

Endnotes 1' ,he formal parallels between the decline of the <ritish .mpire during the Iictorian era! and the decline of the 9a4 0mericana during the neoliberal era! have a precise geopolitical content! and that is the mediating role of the global semi$peripheries' 2ust as (anchester liberalism and the gold standard were founded on <ritain3s vast pool of overseas investment! whose single greatest outlet was a semi$peripheral 0merica which later become the new metropole! so too were +all -treet neoliberalism and the /- dollar standard founded on the restructuring of the defeated 04is powers into industrial semi$peripheries! which later become the nucleus of a new set of metropoles in their own right' ,he parallels e4tend deep into the theory$mar)et& where 5iet%sche! the e4iled theorist of semi$peripheral +ilhelmine 8ermany! lamented the death of 8od from the vantage point of wealthy! commerciali%ed -wit%erland! the post$structuralisms of the *rancophone semi$periphery and the 1ndian diaspora lamented the death of the =ollywood signifier from the similarly ambiguous terrain of the /- university system' 2' ,he classic literature on the political economy of Central .urope and .ast 0sia are& 9eter @at%enstein3s The +oliti(s of Cor,oratism! a wide$ranging study of postwar 0ustria! 8ermany and -wit%erlandO 0lice 0msden3s South Korea- Asias Ne"t .iantO Robert +ade3s .o)erning the Mar/et! which analy%es the ,aiwanese boomO and Robert *riedman3s The Misunderstood Mira(le! on 2apan3s industrial policy' One of the best analytical wor)s on the political economy of the /- decline is Doug =enwood3s Wall Street! which lays out the internal wea)nesses of +all -treet$style capitalism in compelling detail' 3' 9at (aio! BIideo$8ame 1ndustry is -een .4panding 0t a Rapid Clip During 5e4t *ive Years'C Wall Street %ournal' *riday! (ay 2;! 2001! page <:' ,he article cites a study by 1nforma (edia 8roup 9KC! which pro"ects world revenues for 2001 as follows& Category 0rcades Console software Console hardware Rental 9C software =andheld software =andheld hardware (obile Online 1nteractive ,I <illions /-J J13'7V J6'VG J6'16 J3'1G J:'12 J2'76 J2':3 J0':V J0';: J0'07

G' ,his data is from the *ederal Reserve flow$of$fund accounts! available at vhttp&^^www'bog'frb'fed'us^releases^>1^w' ;' 1t is no accident that the *rancophone region in the 16:0s produced so much postmodern theory! or that the 1ndian diaspora produced so much postcolonial theory in the 1670sO *rance in the 16:0s! with its deep cultural networ)s and relatively underdeveloped media culture! was on 26

the outside of the =ollywood bloc)buster loo)ing in Enicely underlined by Derrida3s notorious comment! that 0merica is deconstructionF' 1ndia3s .nglish$spea)ing professional elites could access the mediatic forms of /- consumerism! something most obvious in the conte4t of <ollywood and a thriving 1ndian film industry! but not necessarily the content of such! i'e' the high$tech service economy' 0 similar asynchrony is at wor) in the intellectual tra"ectory of 8ayatri -piva)! who began her career by producing a superb translation of *rancophone theorist and fellow diasporan Derrida! and who later became an academic based in the /-' V' =UQng3s wor) is available in .nglish in an e4cellent new translation& S,ring Essen(e- The +oetry of 01 2u3n 045ng' ,rans' 2ohn <alaban' 9ort ,ownsend! +ashington& Copper Canyon 9ress! 2000' :' One little$)nown conse#uence of this history is that well into the 16 th century! Iietnamese rulers routinely paid symbolic annual homage to the Chinese .mperor! so as not to unduly antagoni%e the giant to the north! a practice finally abolished by the *rench colonial administration' ,he one hundred years of *rench colonialism! not to mention the twenty years of what the Iietnamese call the 0merican +ar! were relatively brief interludes in this two$thousand$ year historyO China3s flagrantly ill$conceived invasion of Iietnam in 16:6 was! alas! something li)e a return to historic norms' 7' 5guyLn Du' The Tale of Kiu' ,rans' =uZnh -anh ,h[ng' <inghamton& Yale /niversity 9ress! 1673' E3& Kines 1$VF 6' (ao >edong' #e)er$erations' ,ransl' 5ancy Kin' =ong @ong& 2oint 9ublishing Co'! 1670 EG3F' 10' The Tale of Kiu6 E1V6F 11' 1bid E;& lines G:$G7F' 12' 1bid E;& lines V:$:0F' 13' ,he entire passage is well worth #uoting in full& B0fter the flight of departure into history out of the greed of the dramatist for catastrophes! which perhaps! as the psychoanalysts maintain! come from a distorted relationship to life! but who could live undisturbed! in view of the daily catastrophes! e4cept an idiot or a saint! again bac) to the very disturbed @leist! for whom the fragile institution of the world was the condition of his e4istence as an author and ultimately the grounds for dissolving himself as a person' =is fundamental metaphor! in the forcefield between .urope and 0sia! is the pillar of dust! the trope of total acceleration at a standstill! the eye of the typhoon' ,he (ongol onslaught was a fundamental .uropean e4perience! refreshed in the .ast by the -oviet occupation! still and anon a memory! beyond the confidence of the senile =indenburg! when the great bra)esman of the Russian steam$roller at ,annenberg promoted =itler! as his chosen son! into power' .ven the definition of (eister .c)hardt 8OD 1- ,=. +0-,.K05D seems inspired by the dream of the brea)$in of the ridden steppe into the world of established 8erman manufactures& 8od is the Other! death comes from 0sia' ,he grave of 8enghis @han is undiscoverable& the (ongols had the habit of riding at length over the graves of 30

their leaders! until they were indistinguishable from plowed earth' *rom the viewpoint of the stutterer @leist& from the gradual preparation of thoughts during spea)ing to the gradual preparation of silence during spea)ing' 1n 16V1 the pillar of dust turned into concrete! corrective against the whirlwind of the continents' 0fter its fall .urope stands unsheltered! e4posed to the four winds'C =einer (Aller' .ermany ,la(eless6 #emar/s on Kleist. -peech given at reception of the @leist$9ri%e! 1660' ,his is my own translation' 1G' The Tale of Kiu' E11& lines 1V;$1VVF 1;' 1bid E11& line 1:7F' 1V' 1bid E1;& lines 2G3$2GGF' 1:' =T ?uPn =UQng' S,ring Essen(e- The +oetry of 01 2u3n 045ng' ,rans' 2ohn <alaban' 9ort ,ownsend! +ashington& Copper Canyon 9ress! 2000 E111F' 17' The Tale of Kiu6 E13& lines 20;$21GF 16' 1bid E1;& lines 2G:$2;VF' 20' One can argue that such a solution was simply not possible at that historical "uncture! in which case the ,Py -Qn era was the e4ception which proved the general adage that peasant uprisings do not translate into national mass movements' One need loo) no further than the immediate predecessor of the ,Py -Qn! 5guyLn =uu Chinh! a')'a' Ruan =e or B9rince 9orpoiseC! who led a peasant rebellion in 1:G0s but was eventually arrested in 1:;1' *or its part! the 8ia Kong regime put down any number of local peasant revolts! while the arrival of *rench colonialism in the 17G0s forever derailed any possibility of an indigenous 0bsolutism' ,hat said! we urgently need a long$range comparative survey of .ast 0sian nation$state formation comparable to what 9erry 0nderson has provided for early modern .urope' -ee& 9erry 0nderson! 7ineages of the A$solutist State' 5K<& Kondon! 16:G' 21' ,he word for )ingfisher! ,hXy! is also @iWu3s family name& =e lac)ed for nothing trees and roc)s! a porch inscribed in vivid gold& B@ingfisher M,hXyN IiewC' ,he porch3s name made him e4ult inside& B1t must be =eaven3s will that we should meetiC The Tale of Kiu6 E1:& lines 2:6$272F 22' 1bid E13& line 22GF' 23' 1bid E26& line ;3GF' 2G' 1bid E21& lines 3;3$3;7F' 2;' 1bid E23& lines 363$G0GF' 31

2V' 1bid E2;& lines G;2$G;GF' 2:' ,here are intriguing parallels here to the category of aesthetic appearance or B-cheinC in the 8erman national philosophical tradition& B-cheinC has the additional meaning of a financial bill or note! and therefore names the contradiction between use$value and e4change$value Ewhat a commodity is! versus its price tagF' 27' The Tale of Kiu6 E2:& lines G71$G7VF 26' ,his is a polite way of noting that she is smarter than he is' @im3s response is a classic piece of .nlightenment ideology& B,he voice of sober reason gained his ear^ and tenfold his regard for her increased'C 1bid E26& lines ;23$;27F' 30' 1bid E31& lines ;;:$;;7F' 31' ,he depth of this anti$commercial outburst is e4traordinary' ,wo passages condemn the bailiffs in e4plicitly monetary terms& ,hen! li)e bluebottles bu%%ing through the house! they Mthe bailiffsN smashed wor)bas)ets! shattered looms to bits' ,hey grabbed all "ewels! fineries! personal things! scooping the household clean to fill greed3s bag' 1bid E31& lines ;71$;7GF' -omewhat later& Kawmen behaved that day as is their wont wrea)ing dire havoc "ust for money3s sa)e' 1bid E33& lines ;67$;66F' Consider the scene between (p and the marriage bro)er& ,he bro)er said& B-he3s worth her weight in goldi MvDng& precious metalN <ut in distress they3ll loo) to your big heart'C ,hey haggled long and hard! then struc) a deal& the price for her! four hundred and some liang' 1bid E3;& lines VG;$VG7F' 5guyLn adds two near$proverbial comments of his own& +hen cash is ready! what cannot be fi4ed] 1bid E3;& line V;2F' +hen money3s held in hand it3s no great tric) swaying men3s hearts and turning blac) to white' 1bid E3:& lines V76$V60F' 32

32' 1bid E33& lines V1;$V20F' 33' 0s =uZnh notes! this is an allusion to a well$)nown fol) poem which laments the dismal fate of women& B(y body is li)e a drop from a downpour'^ 1t may fall into a well or into a flower garden'^ (y body is li)e a drop of falling rain'^ 1t may land inside a mansion or end out in a slushy field'C 1bid E170F' (uch later in the poem! @iWu states forthrightly& B1t is my part to play a drop from a downpour ^ that falls at random as spectators watch'C 1bid E101& lines 16V1$16V2F' 3G' 1bid E36& lines :32$:33F' 3;' 1bid EG3& lines 711$71VF' 3V' ,hat said! her blood went wild! her spirit swooned& all breath fell hushed! both hands grew cold as ice' ,he parents rose at once from their deep sleep the household was astir inside and out' ,hey bustled fetching some tisane! some drug& she wa)ened from her faint! still wet with tears' 1bid EG1& lines :;:$:VVF' 3:' M(p gloats to himself&N B1 view rare "ade it stirs my heart of goldi ,he )ingdom3s #ueen of beautyi =eaven3s scenti One smile of hers is worth pure gold it3s true' +hen she gets there! to pluc) the maiden bud! princes and gentlefol) will push and shove' -he3ll bring at least three hundred liang! about what 1 have paid net profit after that' 0 morsel dangles at my mouth what 8od serves up 1 crave! yet money hate to lose'C 1bid EG;& lines 72G$732F' 37' 1bid EG3& lines 701$702F' 36' 1bid EG6& lines 611$61GF' G0' One of the hallmar)s of .ast 0sia3s media culture is the internali%ation of the violence of e4port$platform industriali%ation into a supercharged corporeality! visible everywhere from the acrobatic heroes of =ong @ong3s 8u"ia films to the oversi%ed monsters of ,oho3s 8od%illa epics' 0ng Ki3s feminist parable The 'ut(hers Wife E1671F employs the )nife as a similar symbol of authority! while the heroine of Yimou >hang3s #ed Sorghum E167:F uses a scissors to defend herself against her leprosy$stric)en husband the allegorical self$defense of the Chinese peasantry against the ancien regime' G1' The Tale of Kiu6 E;;& lines 10G:$10;VF' 33

G2' +hile the first 2esuit missionaries arrived in Iietnam in the 1V th century! the )ey impetus in the coloni%ation process was the arrival of *rench missionary 0le4ander Rhodes E1;61$1VV0F in Iietnam in 1V2G' Rhodes created #uxc$ngr! a phonetically$based alphabet for the Iietnamese language using Roman letters! and proceeded to write the first ever Iietnamese$Katin$9ortuguese dictionary Epublished in 1V;0$1V;V! following his return to .uropeF' Iietnam3s first national script! called BnomC! was loosely based on Chinese characters! and Kiu is widely considered to be the masterpiece of nom literature' 1n the early 20 th century! the *rench colonial authorities mandated the use of #uxc$ngr! which Iietnam uses to this day' G3' 1bid E;:& lines 10:6$1070F' GG' 1t3s worth noting that her vow! bac)ed rhetorically by the trope of Bhills and streamsC! appeals to (adame ,X3s commercial pragmatism& -he M@iWuN said& B,his little woman left her home to tre) through hills and streams MnUdc nonN and founder here' 5ow in your hands you hold my life or death' <rought to this pass! my person3s reached an end' +hat care 1 for myself] (y fate is set' <ut your investment would you really ris)] =ow can an eel mind muddying its head] =ereafter 13ll forget my maiden shame'C 1bid EV1& lines 11G1$11G7F' G;' 1bid EV3& lines 11:6$1177F' GV' 1bid EV3& lines 1166$121VF' G:' 1bid EV:& lines 127;$1260F' G7' 1bid EV6& lines 1301$1302F' G6' 1bid E:3& line 1G0;F' ;0' 1bid EV6& lines 1303$130VF' ;1' ,he BlA$shihC is a regulated verse form immortali%ed by the ,3ang dynasty! a period widely considered to be the ape4 of Chinese literati poetry' *or the full dialogue between @iWu and ,hXc! see& ibid E:1& lines 133;$13V0F' ;2' 1bid EV6& lines 1326$1330F' ;3' 1bid E:1& lines 13VV$13V7F' ;G' 1bid E2;& line G;1F' 3G

;;' 1bid E::& lines 1G;;$1G;VF' ;V' 1bid E::& lines 1G73$1G7VF' ;:' 1bid E:3& lines 1371$1372F' ;7' 1bid E73& lines 1V02$1V0;F' ;6' 1bid E6;& lines 1713$171VF' V0' 1bid E61& lines 1:G6$1:;7F' V1' 1bid E101& lines 16;1$16V2F' V2' 1bid E103$10;& lines 200G$200:F' V3' 1bid E10;& lines 2026$2032F' VG' 1bid E113& lines 21V:$21:7F' V;' 1bid E11;& lines 217:$2160F' VV' 1bid E11;& lines 220;$220VF' V:' 1bid E11;& line 2230F' 5ote that the transition from the b`ng to the hTng has its 20 th century echo in a poem by (ao >edong! written during a period when he was still a Chinese nationalist and had not yet "oined the Communist 9arty' (ao uses the term B)unpengC to describe a friend going to 2apan! whose status as the first .ast 0sian nation to become a +estern$style industrial power rendered it as something of a model for progressive$minded Chinese Ethe )un is the mythical fish that the peng or roc is supposed to turn intoF& Your leaving inspires me to lift up my voice in song! =enceforth the )unpeng will hit the waves and start its "ourney' ,he waters of Ka)e Dongting and the ?iang River have risen to meet the s)ies! 0nd the great warship will dash straight eastward' (ao >edong' B-eeing Off ,ate /ichiro on =is 2ourney to the .ast!C -pring 1617' Maos #oad to +o8er' .dited by -tuart -chram' Iolume 1 E1V;F' 1662' V7' The Tale of Kiu' E11:& lines 22G:$22;2F V6' 1bid E11;& lines 221;$221VF' :0' 1bid E116& lines 230:$2307F' 3;

:1' 1bid E123& line 23:0F' :2' -ee =uZnh3s footnote for line 23:7 of the poem in& 1bid E202F' :3' 1bid E123& lines 236;$236VF' :G' 1bid E126& lines 2G71$2G7VF' :;' 1bid E131& lines 2;3;$2;3:F' :V' 1bid E133& lines 2;V:$2;70F' ::' 1bid E13;& line 2V3GF' :7' 1bid E13:& lines 2VG3$2VGGF' :6' 1bid E1G1& lines 2:1V$2:2GF' 70' 1bid E1G1& lines 2:3;$2:3VF' 71' -ee 0le4ander +oodside! Chapter 10& B,he Relationship <etween 9olitical ,heory and .conomic 8rowth in Iietnam! 1:;0$17G0C! in& The 7ast Stand of Asian Autonomies' .dited by 0nthony Reid' -t' (artin3s 9ress& 5Y 166: E2;0F' 72' The Tale of Kiu' E1G3& lines 2:V:$2::0F' 73' 1bid E1G6& lines 2776$2610F' 7G' Of love and friendship they fulfilled both claims they shared no bed but "oys of lute and verse' 5ow they sipped wine! now played a game of go! admiring flowers! waiting for the moon' ,heir wishes all came true since fate so willed! and of two lovers marriage made two friends' 1bid E1V;& lines 3221$3223F' 7;' B,he eclecticism of the 5guyen rulers comes from the fact that they tried to absorb the criticism which the disorders of late eighteenth$century Iietnam had made current even before 9han =uy Chu so brilliantly codified it in 1716' <etween 170; and 173V the first two 5guyen emperors carried out the most ambitious land measurement programme in Iietnamese history! preparing land registers Mdia baN for some 1;!000 to 17!000 villages and hamlets from north to south! of which more than 10!000 have survived' 1n these land registers there undoubtedly lies a sort of master code of rural Iietnamese history for the early 1700s! yet to be revealed to us' <ut these land registers must be seen in terms of the political theory which lies behind them! as limited parts of the political #uest for transcendence rather than "ust functional censuses of a semi$modern type and no more' +hat they were was as important as what they did' ,hey were 3V

part of the symbolic capital of imperial authority which the 5guyen rulers had to produce! in hitherto unimaginable #uantities! in order to deny totalistic clerical critics the change to show that there was a tension between such rulers3 omniscient administration with sympathy fir the different circumstances of jself$nourishment3 of each Iietnamese whose jteeth had sprouted3' ,he growing intensity of the struggle to produce the symbolic capital of authority! in parallel with economic growth! may be seen in Iietnam also in the fact that as a Iietnamese scholar has recently pointed out the 5guyen rulers reversed the order of priority of Iietnamese cultural institutions as established by the Ke dynasty before them' 1n contrast to the Ke emperors! they e4alted their court 1nstitute of 5ational =istory MRuoc su #uanN above their court 1mperial College MRuoc tu giamN within the structure of their central government'C 0le4ander +oodside! Chapter 10& B,he Relationship <etween 9olitical ,heory and .conomic 8rowth in Iietnam! 1:;0$17G0C! in& The 7ast Stand of Asian Autonomies' .dited by 0nthony Reid' -t' (artin3s 9ress& 5Y 166: E2V;F' 7V' The Tale of Kiu' E1V:& lines 32G:$32;2F'

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