Deconstruction of Enlightenment Thought in the May Fourth Period in Stale Mates

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-432-7_18How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Stale Mates; Enlightenment Ideals; Deconstruction; Reflection

Abstract

Stale Mates was Eileen Chang’s re-examination of the enlightenment ideals of the May Fourth period in the 1950s. Through satirical and humorous narration, the novel subverted the solemn significance of marriage freedom and women’s liberation championed by youth influenced by enlightenment thought during the May Fourth period, and deconstructed the May Fourth modern enlightenment myth. Through the narrative of the “Three Beauties Reunited” ending, Eileen Chang expressed her reflection on the practical significance and value of the May Fourth enlightenment thought in ordinary life, reflecting her skeptical attitude towarded the true meaning of the May Fourth enlightenment thought.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Sicheng Dong
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/22
TI  - Deconstruction of Enlightenment Thought in the May Fourth Period in Stale Mates
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 4th International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities and Arts (SSHA 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 151
EP  - 157
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-432-7_18
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-432-7_18
ID  - Dong2025
ER  -