Conférence « The Oedipus Complex in Chinese Literature » par Meir Shahar, Université de Tel Aviv. La conférence, qui sera donnée en anglais, sera suivie d’une discussion animée par Rainier Lanselle, Université Paris-Diderot. Mercredi 11 février 2015 à 18 h 30, amphi 2, INALCO, 65 rue des Grands Moulins, 75013 Paris.
Résumé de la conférence:
Traditional Chinese culture has accorded filial piety paramount significance. The virtue has been the cornerstone of Chinese ethics and political theory, informing every aspect of a person's life, from familial roles and social conduct to religious practice. It is striking therefore that one of the most beloved Chinese folk heroes has attempted to kill his father. The legend of the Chinese god Nezha has him locked in familial conflict from the moment of his birth. Culminating in suicide and attempted patricide, his visceral myth has enjoyed tremendous popularity throughout late-imperial and modern times.
This talk takes the Nezha legend as the starting point for an investigation of the Oedipus complex in traditional Chinese literature. I argue that violence between fathers and sons, no less than hints of sexual attraction between mothers and their male offspring, are not uncommon in Chinese literature. However, the unique feature of Chinese literature is the effort to disguise incestuous and violent drives under the façade of Confucian morality, so much so that some oedipal stories masquerade as filial-piety tales.
Meir SHAHAR
Après avoir étudié le chinois à l’Université hébraïque de Jérusalem et à Taipei, Meir Shahar a obtenu un doctorat en Langues et civilisations de l’Asie Orientale à Harvard. Il est notamment l’auteur de Crazy Ji: Chinese Religion and Popular Literature (Harvard University Asia Center, 1998) et The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts (University of Hawaii Press, 2008) Il a également co-dirigé les ouvrages Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China (University of Hawaii Press, 1996) et India in the Chinese Imagination: Myth, Religion, and Thought (The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013). Il publiera prochainement un livre intitulé Oedipal God: the Chinese Nezha and his Indian Origins. Il est actuellement professeur à l’université de Tel Aviv.
Rainier LANSELLE.
Rainier Lanselle est maître de conférences HDR en études chinoises à l'Université Paris Diderot, Langues et Civilisations d’Asie Orientale, et directeur-adjoint du Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de l'Asie Orientale (CRCAO). Ses travaux portent sur le roman et le théâtre chinois classiques. Il est également psychanalyste.