Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences / National Images in S. Maugham’s on a Chinese Screen

Full text (.pdf)
Issue
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2025 18 (3)
Authors
Khabibullina, Liliya F.; Zinnatullina, Zulfiya R.
Contact information
Khabibullina, Liliya F.: Kazan Federal University Kazan, Russian Federation; ; Zinnatullina, Zulfiya R.: Kazan Federal University Kazan, Russian Federation;
Keywords
English literature; Somerset Maugham; On a Chinese Screen; national images
Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of an English writer Somerset Maugham’s collection of essays On a Chinese Screen (1922). The action takes place in China. The Chinese Screen is associated with the opposition of the West and the East and separation of these worlds. The world of the East, in this case, China, is depicted as a civilization with a centuries-old history. But today it has completely lost its former greatness and has been turned into a secondary one. The space of China is characterized by “exclusion” from the flow of time. It is contrasted with this world of the West, represented mainly by characters who are carriers of Western values. Thus, the images of the English colonialists are deliberately clichéd. Moreover, social issues are considered as a part of Western world. The British strive to respect class principles even while abroad. A special place in the collection On a Chinese Screen is occupied by images of English women. They are mostly depicted as outwardly unattractive but morally upstanding women. In this regard, they are contrasted with the French, who, on the contrary, are outwardly attractive, but immoral. The French are generally portrayed as rivals of the English. In this case Maugham remains faithful to those stereotypes that were popular in English culture back in the 19th century. Americans are also ambiguous in the collection. On the one hand, they are not endowed with negative qualities; on the other hand, there are critics of their desire to subjugate them. A special group is represented by supranational types. They are bearers of higher, timeless values, and are devoid of the national stereotyping that Maugham endows other characters with

Pages
640–648
EDN
ZVRZQW
Paper at repository of SibFU
https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/155055

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).