Open Collections

A Christian critique of the theme of love in Shi Tiesheng’s novel "Notes on abstract talks"

University of British Columbia

In this thesis, a literary analysis and Christian critique is given to the contemporary Chinese writer Shi Tiesheng's philosophical-religious novel "Notes on Abstract Talks" in 1995. It is established in this research paper that Shi Tiesheng's writing manifests his sophisticated literary techniques, reveals his deep interests in fate and salvation, and demonstrates his unique efforts to find a way out of human predicaments through love. At the same time, this research paper also identifies Shi Tiesheng's understanding of love in terms of Eros, which has several unavoidable limitations according to the analyses of the relationships between disability and love, class origin and love, morality and love, and devotion and love in this novel. Several characteristics of Eros and Agape will be then described to show from a Christian point of view that it is Agape not Eros that possesses a salvation capacity to deliver people from suffering and predicament. The general goal of this thesis is to affirm the literary and philosophical value of Shi Tiesheng's "Notes on Abstract Talks", while pointing out its limitations and answer from a Christian perspective its questions about love.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-10-29

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/14395

Asian Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace