Yuanyuan Fang | Brown University (original) (raw)
Books by Yuanyuan Fang
Shanghai Culture Publishing House
Conference Presentations by Yuanyuan Fang
Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Jan 6, 2019
Finnish Gender Studies Conference, Nov 2018
This paper focuses on matter and materiality in Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and the Shape of Water (20... more This paper focuses on matter and materiality in Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and the Shape of Water (2017), two of Guillermo del Toro's dark fantasy films. By analyzing the motifs of matter, death, and the maiden, this paper will show how del Toro's dark fantasies move beyond new-materialism and how they complicate the dynamics of body and matter, of humanity and materiality. The first section of this paper focuses on how the enigmatic creatures in Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water are personifications of natural materials like water and stone, and on how human characters' demonstrated fear towards these creatures is the fear of non-human agency. The second section of this paper focuses on how natural materials in these two films can be seen as vibrant assemblages without a single agency, and on how the projected fear is not only the fear of non-human agency, but also the fear that there is no such thing as agency. The third section of this paper focuses on how the maiden figures in these two films through their Being-towards-death in the Heideggerian sense, become parts of the vibrant assemblages and embrace the possibility of a new kind of being—a being that transcends the distinction between body and matter.
Papers by Yuanyuan Fang
Berkeley Undergraduate Journal of Classics, 2018
A beautiful young boy carried away by an eagle up and became a cup-bearer on Mount Olympus—this i... more A beautiful young boy carried away by an eagle up and became a cup-bearer on Mount Olympus—this is the myth of Ganymede. But who is this young boy? And why is he carried away by an eagle? Interpreters, from mythographers in the late antiquity to historians still living today, have attempted to interpret this myth and to unveil the significance behind this young cup- bearer’s abduction. The Ganymede myth is told differently by many myth tellers—from Homer to the tenth century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda—and interpreted differently by many interpreters. In this essay, I focus on how four different interpreters—Fulgentius, Natale Conti, Jan Bremmer, and Petra Affeld-Niemeyer—are interpreting differently the elements of Ganymede’s abduction, the eagle which carries Ganymede away, and the liquid Ganymede is bearing in his cup. I argue that the four interpreters interpret the Ganymede myth differently because of their varying presumptions about the fundamental nature of the myth. They interpret the act of abduction differently because they have different presumptions about the creator of the myth, and they interpret the eagle and the liquid differently because they have different assumptions about the meaning of the myth.
Thesis Chapters by Yuanyuan Fang
Brown University Comparative Literature Theses and Dissertations, 2021
A ghost is haunting the eighteenth-century novel – the ghost of Lucretia, the chaste Roman matron... more A ghost is haunting the eighteenth-century novel – the ghost of Lucretia, the chaste Roman matron who killed herself after being raped by Tarquinius and whose death ushered in the birth of the Roman Republic. With the rise of the epistolary novel in the eighteenth century, many great writers entered the scene to re-write the story of Lucretia, and new Lucretia stories emerged – among which Clarissa (1748) by the English novelist Samuel Richardson and Julie (1761) by the Genevan philosopher and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau are two great examples. Both novels are attempts to rehabilitate the virtue of a supposedly “fallen” woman: despite their “tarnished virtue,” the heroines Clarissa and Julie both provide new models for feminine virtue and female heroism. However, the question remains: under what value system are Clarissa and Julie deemed as “fallen” women, and who is it to determine whether they are “fallen” or not? In this project, I will show how Clarissa and Julie are not only physically seduced by men but also ideologically seduced by an aristocratic patriarchy that is perpetuated not just by men but also by women – and whether these young ladies have the free will to consent or not consent to this multi-layered seduction.
Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Jan 6, 2019
Finnish Gender Studies Conference, Nov 2018
This paper focuses on matter and materiality in Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and the Shape of Water (20... more This paper focuses on matter and materiality in Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and the Shape of Water (2017), two of Guillermo del Toro's dark fantasy films. By analyzing the motifs of matter, death, and the maiden, this paper will show how del Toro's dark fantasies move beyond new-materialism and how they complicate the dynamics of body and matter, of humanity and materiality. The first section of this paper focuses on how the enigmatic creatures in Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water are personifications of natural materials like water and stone, and on how human characters' demonstrated fear towards these creatures is the fear of non-human agency. The second section of this paper focuses on how natural materials in these two films can be seen as vibrant assemblages without a single agency, and on how the projected fear is not only the fear of non-human agency, but also the fear that there is no such thing as agency. The third section of this paper focuses on how the maiden figures in these two films through their Being-towards-death in the Heideggerian sense, become parts of the vibrant assemblages and embrace the possibility of a new kind of being—a being that transcends the distinction between body and matter.
Berkeley Undergraduate Journal of Classics, 2018
A beautiful young boy carried away by an eagle up and became a cup-bearer on Mount Olympus—this i... more A beautiful young boy carried away by an eagle up and became a cup-bearer on Mount Olympus—this is the myth of Ganymede. But who is this young boy? And why is he carried away by an eagle? Interpreters, from mythographers in the late antiquity to historians still living today, have attempted to interpret this myth and to unveil the significance behind this young cup- bearer’s abduction. The Ganymede myth is told differently by many myth tellers—from Homer to the tenth century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda—and interpreted differently by many interpreters. In this essay, I focus on how four different interpreters—Fulgentius, Natale Conti, Jan Bremmer, and Petra Affeld-Niemeyer—are interpreting differently the elements of Ganymede’s abduction, the eagle which carries Ganymede away, and the liquid Ganymede is bearing in his cup. I argue that the four interpreters interpret the Ganymede myth differently because of their varying presumptions about the fundamental nature of the myth. They interpret the act of abduction differently because they have different presumptions about the creator of the myth, and they interpret the eagle and the liquid differently because they have different assumptions about the meaning of the myth.
Brown University Comparative Literature Theses and Dissertations, 2021
A ghost is haunting the eighteenth-century novel – the ghost of Lucretia, the chaste Roman matron... more A ghost is haunting the eighteenth-century novel – the ghost of Lucretia, the chaste Roman matron who killed herself after being raped by Tarquinius and whose death ushered in the birth of the Roman Republic. With the rise of the epistolary novel in the eighteenth century, many great writers entered the scene to re-write the story of Lucretia, and new Lucretia stories emerged – among which Clarissa (1748) by the English novelist Samuel Richardson and Julie (1761) by the Genevan philosopher and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau are two great examples. Both novels are attempts to rehabilitate the virtue of a supposedly “fallen” woman: despite their “tarnished virtue,” the heroines Clarissa and Julie both provide new models for feminine virtue and female heroism. However, the question remains: under what value system are Clarissa and Julie deemed as “fallen” women, and who is it to determine whether they are “fallen” or not? In this project, I will show how Clarissa and Julie are not only physically seduced by men but also ideologically seduced by an aristocratic patriarchy that is perpetuated not just by men but also by women – and whether these young ladies have the free will to consent or not consent to this multi-layered seduction.