Power　in　Timothy　Mo’s　novels

Power in Timothy Mo s novels

B6atrix Shimizu

  Over the past 20 years， Timothy Mo has found a niche for himself and presented a body of works which share two main characteristics；they find their inspiration in a

geographical sphere with its centre originally in Hong−Kong and Macao（Theルfonkey

towards Indonesia（The Redunciancly q〆Courage 4）and the Philippines（Brownout on

make−up of Chinese families or other international underclass 7 such as the

with the practice of hostage−taking by Islamic fundamentalist groups；the media

on their way to one of Europe s lands of plenty， particularly Britain， the most important former colonial power in Asia．

In the span of his six novels so far， Mo retraces a historical shift， from the colonial overtaking of Hong Kong by Britain to the reality of a region which has come into its

own but whose geo−political make−up is still deeply influenced by its various

political−no longer radiating in any simple way from a discrete geographical or

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Power and the legitimacy of its various forms and practices are at the centre of Mo s fiction． Said has argued  ideas， cultures and histories cannot seriously be studied

without their force， or more precisely their configurations of power， also being

      Theルfonkey King and the power of tradition

  In the Chinese world of legends， Sun Wu Kung， the king of the monkeys， is

represented whirling his traditional staff and always getting out of the worse

Nothing at first predestines Wallace to take over from his dead father in law， evincing the family son；the filial young man who honoured his dead father s wishes and married the daughter of a second concubine is repeatedly manipulated and seems to have his fate dictated to him until the end of the novel even though he is convinced of playing a rather revolutionary role in breaking a few habits in the stuffy Poons household and also merits， by his show of loyalty， his rise in power within the family he entered as a complete outsider．

Wallace， whose appearance is Chinese， even though he thinks of himself as a

multiple culture and a versatile education；indeed he has inherited a capacity for

having gone through a form of maturation and change；in this instance， Wallace

Nolasco parallels the future Adolph Ng of The 1〜edundUncy（ゾCourage and Rey in

wife typically involves a removal to a kind of backstage， a village in the New

There is thus no doubt that access to power implies a certain amount of mediation leading to some forms of knowledge， mediation here taking the form of observance of the traditional Chinese respect for the elders．

The episode of the baby is a fitting analysis of the labyrinthine and concealed relations between knowledge and power， between innocence and wisdom． It is hardly noticeable and yet significant． Wallace arrives in the Poons  mansion at the beginning of the dry season． Outside the house there is a nullah engorged with festering rubbish ll among which， we are told， can occasionally be found the body of an abandoned infant ． Wallace and his wife are at first forced to sleep with a grossly handicapped child who soon dies and about whose burial Wallace enquires． He is told that the child has already been buried and watching through the window he sees a bloated dog， its belly so distended its legs seemed like the teats of a monstrous udder 12． The reader is reminded of the picture of the now dead baby stuck in its orange crate with its 1imbs now stuck awkwardly over the sides 13． When Wallace goes with the family to clean their ancestors graves he finds out that there is no place assigned to the baby vVho died without a name；so finally when at the end of the story a few words depict the same nullah carrying detritus so sodden it was unrecognisable 14， the reader can not help but entertain horrible doubts about the nature of the rubbish carried away to the sea as well as to the real fate of the dead baby s body． This episode of the baby still shows Wallace at its most innocent． Gradually， Wallace gains the ability to link pieces of

knowledge and get access to a form of power；this is particularly shown in the

encounter with the English soldier which gives a representation of the power of

suffers flooding from a typhoon， Wallace manages to drain in皿dated fields by

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the Japanese inflicted on the masters of Honk Kong during the war．

In The Monleey King， Mo thus explores the links between e モ盾獅盾高奄メ@and social power and tradition． In an economic situation， power is to know what others do not． Power is also to be， like the legendary Monkey King， what others do not know you are． The ultimate power that Wallace gains within the family is because he has rather candidly displayed the ability to gain knowledge about loyalty；thus Mo draws an intricate web

of multi−centred relations between knowledge and power． In an application of

thought he saw a shadow or a small animal in the corridor 15．When he dreams of eating the brain of the young monkey， it is too late to go back to his own self．

      Sour Sweet and the power of contingency

  With Sour Sweet， Mo continues the exploration of the links between traditions and economic power within a Chinese background， this time that of immigrants to London in the 1970s． Wallace s force was gained through a renewed and revised contact with traditional Confucian ethics and he did not remain unscathed by this exposure． In Sour Sweet， the Chinese philosophy is again looked at as an essential element in the social engine． It is however the displacement to a foreign context， and again within that background the movements of both characters and plot that most impressively support the argument that unmitigated allegiance to Confucian principles（illustrated by Chen s behaviour）as well as radical severing from them（as seen in Mui s decisions）may not be productive or viable solutions．

Sour Sweet is constructed as an alternated succession of chapters about the life of a fam玉ly of Chinese immigrants in London and the organisation of a Chinese triad who controls those immigrants． The apparent dislocation of the plot is particularly effective as a platform for developing thoughts about the power of contingency as it becomes obvious that those two worlds depicted separately are deeply linked and that what is actually at stake is the survival of the Chen family attempting to live at that peculiar

border−space both between and beyond， here specifically the compulsion of British racism and Chinese obligation 16．

There are 36 chapters like the number of solemn oaths new recruitS to the triad need

to swear at the initiation ceremony；36＝4x9，49 being the rank ordinary members

7（figuratively embodied by a cock）dies in the initiation ceremony and when the

Chen s fate is settled in chapter 7；it is because he needs 500 pounds to sponge off his father s accumulated debts and health expenses that he goes gambling， looses 300 pounds which he has borrowed from his colleague who happens to be involved with the triad and gets Chen introduced to them． Without realising it Chen accepts that the triad looks after his father and signs his fate as he will have to return the favour in kind later on， that is be60me a runner for the triad s drug−dealing activities． His first payment for services he has not started giving is cut into two wads of notes of 72 and 36pounds each． The proportion of chapters in the book dedicated to the Chen family is also of two thirds to one third for the triad activities17． Exploration of the book s intertextual mathematics thus illustrates the rigidity that is part of the characters psychological make−up but also of one of the controlling elements of the society from which they are issued and which they have recreated in Britain．

The characteristic of this world is to be one from which the original and actual residents， the British， are almost entirely absent physically；however， there is no shortage of details about the opinion carried by the Chinese about the inhabitants of

their host country， wonderment on the part of the Chen−like immigrants and

could be invisible for their true selves are not seen by the British， indeed they do not

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know themselves sometimes what is behind the forceS that seem to take lead of their fates． The Chinese are not only the inhabitants of the space named China ， they colonise whole sections of streets in foreign cities and render them indistinguishable from such streets that exist in their territories of origin． The carving out of such spaces within the， mostly， urban landscape is highly symbolic if seen as raw， unsealed and exposed interstices． The destinies of those who people them are linked to that of their family groupings；Lily is firmly convinced that families are fated to rise or fall and those movements bear the weight of the contingency of successive family members actions， while a deadly rivalry underlies all forms of communications between those units． External forces always have to be contended with；their power of coercion is such that negotiation for a viable space makes it necessary to be able to constantly use traditional points of reference and more importantly possess the capacity to update and re−actualise them．

      An lnsu／ar Possession and the power of historical representations   Traditions have their roots in the past． Within his six novels Mo presents a vision of

colonialism at different stages of development． An、rnsular Posse∬ion goes back to the origins of one crucial period in British history；it is set in Canton， Macao and Hong Kong and relates how foreign traders were made to leave Canton， a series of events which led to the first opium war and the creation of Hong Kong． Within its large cast of characters，、肋、lnsular Possession follows from September 1833 until August 1841 the

doings of 2 young American traders， Walter Eastman and Gideon Chase， who are violently opposed to the opium trade and launch a newspaper through which they

Different readings of An Insular Possession have professed rather diametrically

resorts to a pos卜modern deconstruction of the seamless historical narrative into some

of its component parts and reading、肋、rnsular Possession is to see colonialism

Jo㎞McLeod contests Ho s reading by proposing a systematic search for the real

reveals the colonial attitudes in nineteenth century representations by disassembling them， unrnasking the strategies of representation which reveal seemingly documentary representations as （un）acceptabie fictions  and thus  can be read as critical of

the postmodern chora which Ho describes20． McLeod points out the intricate

correspondences between Mo s fiction and the real−life events and characters and

Mo pictures colonialism as a momentarily fatal historical event against which little can be done， like the river which carries floods， and dead bodies to the sea． That does not mean that the peoples subjected to that tide of history are completely helpless；their strength lies in the accumulation of knowledge which eventually will come in useful and allow them to rise against that seemingly almighty power．

In this work， Mo interrogates those issues in a constructed present which is history， a strategy of appropriation of the past to confront it． By so doing， he can then offer two concurrent representations of that history；from inside with a subversive look at the colonial discourse as well as from outside by deconstructing the relation of events． In that respect， Mo is trying to put into practice the remarks about the literary modes of the Chinese that he has Chase enounce in the January 30，1839 issue of the Lin Tin Bulletin：according to those， while the prose of the Western novel is a veritable engine which advances the tale along its rails to a firm destination…．the native novel…moves in a path which is altogether circular 22． Hall argues that in such explanations Chase is proving the perfect orientalist whose purpose is to explain cultural differences；indeed Chase s lecture is a drum against which can be heard Mo s deconstructed rhetoric which here， before being postmodern， is first and foremost Asian occidentalist． In other words， Mo has written a native novel， that is subverted Chase s orientalist discourse in the same way that the progressive Lin Tin Bulletin s voice answers the conventional colonialist discourse of the Canton Monitor， but is still the mouthpiece of a group of colonialists． He has explained cultural differences regarding the west and emphasised the subversive play by making the Chinese almost completely invisible；the only two Chinese figures are the painter，0 Rourke s servant and the Macao scholar who teaches Chase． An Insular Possession can be seen as a historical parallel to Sour Sweet；it forwards a vision of a world， in which events are essentially of the same nature， as the

former British colonialism now seems to revive in the form of Chinese extensive

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      The Red｛ノηdaηcy of Coμ1age and the power of silence

Mo s fourth work heralds a radical change in themes and tone． Indeed， it shocked some

critics in moving away from quaint ethnic vignettes and engaging in violent

Timor that Mo uses as his background． Compared to the multトvoiced、肋Insular Po∬essioit， The、Redundanのノ〔ゾCourage docurhents what happens when silence takes

not to be known， to be ignored， condones a kind of power， the power of impunity， the breaking up of all norms， which is symbolised by the title． As Mo himself has made it clear， courage can never be redundant．

With the steering away from his assigned turf of ChineSe stories and contexts， Mo begins in earnest to paint the picture of a contemporary Asia． He is also more vocal about his own opinions． He links the build−up of power to an undisguised use of coercive violence． This is effectively put forward by the language of the book which has been criticised as lacking the polishing of the former three；the plot s progression is basically chronological and renews with the technique of TheルfoηんのノKing・in the sense that if falls into three parts relating the time before， during and after the period the hero， Adolph Ng， spends as a guerilla in the mountain jungle of Danu． The prose is

peppered by the squeamish and fussy ironical remarks from yours truly ， the

Adolph is the last of Mo s Chinese main characters． This overseas Chinese whose

denied official recognition by the new advocates of independence because he is Chinese，

turns out to become a master in the manufacture of personnel bombs， if only to save his own skin， outlines a couple of major facts；courage is never redundant but the so−called good and rightful sentiments definitely are． What Mo fictionalises in The 1〜edundUnayρ／Courage is the universal struggle endured by the poor and politically lacking in support． At a personal level， this comes through the Ietter Adolph receives after trying to get in touch with a former Canadian female classmate． He has escaped Danu at the coSt but of his life；however， all she can send him are embarrassed

Christian best wishes which make Sure that he will never dream of writing to her again． What Adolph went through was indeed redundant， what the West did not do was

what it judged to be redundant， but， woUld have been vital for those who lost their lives in the conflict mostly because they had too much courage．

Looking at history in the making is also to initiate a reflection on legitimacy． The RedundUnay of Courage thus links An Insular PossesstOn and Mo s next two novels．

From his fourth novel， Mo decidedly turns his pen onto more socially and politically

topical issues． The RedundUncy Of Coμ㎎εis a twentieth century answer to the

      Brovvnout on Breadfruit Boulevard and the power of globalisation  Brownout on Brcadfrait Boulevard is the first of Mo s two novels about the

linking themes and style to a vision of shifts of power in a global world．

Stereotypes as representations of national characteristics are one of the implements used by Mo．、肋、insular Possession showed that representations hold power and are

therefore dislodged with difficulty even though they may be known to be mis＝

representations for instance． About stereotypes， Mo has this to say l This is a taboo area． You re walking on a minefield． Stereotypes has got a negatlve connotatlon，1n ordinary life and for a novelist． But I ve never found it a bad word． It s a survival blueprint that human beings carry around． Stereotypes are more likely to be correct th・n q・ythi・g・1・e・ 24 A・p・・it・， th・y・u・t・i・the c・eati・n・f・w・・ld−・・der di・ect・d by acertain number of moral behaviours and economic achievements， both characteristics which seem interrelated． Mo s Philippines is not only the victim of its own people s shortcomings， a nation as blas6 as steeplejacks and as irresponsible as crows 25， it is

also ransacked by hordes of westerners， in a remake of the historical encounter

it is the western male figure which is constructed as dubiously motivated and

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than anything and for our American friends， it s unemployment． Their societies float on money． When there s no money， their democracies faiL 26． Economic power also appear in the guise of the Japanese， whose warring past， the Japs and the Viet Minh had proved the toughest infantry ， only match a contemporary picture that those bowing

monkeys could copy anything but preferred Karaoke to the bikini bars 28 and are certainly less noisy than Australians． In Brownout on Breadfruit Boulevard， Mo

involving the intervention of international media（CNN…）． Stereotypes， which used to

have pejorative connotations， are now considered by contemporary researchers as

Brownout on Breadfruit Boulevard s intertext of stereotypical representations is

are as many metaphors elaborating on the manifestations and consequences of

scene of a sexual encounter between an old German academic and ayoung Filipina

−politics， the novel is then constructed as a patchwork of mock pieces of information regarding the Philippines， pamphlet−like advertisement for an international conference on environmental issues， transcripts of a forum， the legitimacy and trustworthiness of which are undermined by the ironic， a11−knowing， assertive verve of the author． The result is a deathly revamped mix of Sour Sweet and An Inszalar Possession in the contemporary setting of a society glowing with decay that Mo professes to find much more interesting than other safer ones．

Decay is actually at the centre of Mo s prose with a critically condemned scatological subtext and lax prose． Decadence， or rather failed development is seen as the product of undigested historical heritage， in particular a colonial one． The violence that is manifest in the discordant mixture of styles and abundance of antithetic characters is representative of a vision of globalisation as a powerfully desired instrument of radical change but also a coercive one． Ironically， one effect of globalisation seems to be the strengthening of set representations， stereotypes， that groups of people nurture about others， partly in an effort to protect themselves．

      Renegade or Halo2 and the illegitimacy of power

  Renegade and Halo2 is also set in the Philippines and pushes further Mo s exposit三〇h of the effects of globalisation， via excursions through the legitimacy of justice．The novel is haunted by the ghost of a young girl killed during a brutal rape organised by members of a law faculty brotherhood， a crime of which the hero， Rey Archimedes Blondel Castro， nicknamed Sugar， is uneasily complicit， as he refused to rape the girl，

but was an eye−witness to the whole ghastly events， graphically and explicitly told by Mo． Sugar， born in the little island of Mactan， the son of a Filipino prostitute and a black American soldier， has been looked after as far as his education is concerned by a couple of Jesuits to whom he also owes the enrolment in a prestigious Manila law school where he becomes involved with a number of rich and powerful young men；for them， the actual murder of a girl， associated with the taking of drugs is not something that can ruin their Iives and careers． Rey is posited as an illegitimate child， who gains an education some might think of as illegitimate， in the sense that he would not have been able to do so in normal circumstances， and accesses to illegitimate knowledge thus gaining an illegitimate image；the（legitimate）judicial system will judge him guilty of a crime he has not committed and he has to run for his life．

One of Mo s main instrument and theme is language；in his previous novel， he had already experimented with pinoy English． In Renegade or Halo2， Mo goes further by having his hero sail through his own Odyssey with his main credentials being a superior education in the Classics and the English language． For a number of postcolonial writers， the control over language by the imperial centre remains the most potent instrument of cultural control． Language provides the terms by which reality may be constituted． Its system of values becomes the system upon which social， economic and political discourses are grounded． But Rey is equally at ease in the company of like−educated foreigners as with any of his lower−class compatriots． His hybridity

associated to his unconventional education have given him the extra sense of the

Rey truly possesses knowledge and not only science．

Rey also serves to establish the links between language and deception through the practice of the law． Mo， in a postmodern perspective， questions the fiction of equality before the law qs well as the accountability of justice in a global world． But he does not conclude to the impossibility of justice． His hero will get justice， although it will be

through his own determination and according to his sense of justice． Banished

愛知淑徳大学論集 一コミュニケーション学部篇一 創刊号

forcefully from his country， he will come back in force；he will fight what has been prescribed by the written law through written words， letters． The plot is broken at four intervals by chapters which are as many collections of letters of the traditional type，

that is， sent by maiL By the end of the book， Rey sends his messages by e−mail，

reflecting that it has come too late for him and that the purpose of knowledge has switched from that of the building of spirits to being one of the tenets of some kind of power． Revenge， as a dish that is best eaten cold ， takes him back to an ancient time of primitive justice， one which does without the reason of modernity． But modernity

was also the cradle of what fo皿ded colonialism and more generally justified that beings branded as less reasonable could be dominated by the few who had defined

readily formats and edits in a range of set moulds． Culture and other components of the social make−up will be global if they Iead to a real knowledge and appreciation of differences．

       Conclusion．

So where and how does Mo situate power in the Asian context？

Within his six novels， he provides a definition of not only one but several loci of power，

which within their own category are characterised by great mobility and an ability to nurture more movements and changes． Mo therefore defines a network of forces that underlie the working of today s global world， and in particular the Asian one， where centres are transient and obey to the movements given by economic and social impetus．

The locus of power accordingly translates with those movements as well as through Mo s work where it nests not only in the themes chosen by the author but within his style． Mo could be asked the very question put to Foucault during an interview in 1978

： Can you， too， not be criticised for seeing power everywhere and， in the final analy§is，

of reducing everything to power？ 301n other words， how important a theme in Mo s fiction is the definition of power？

From what has been described above， it is evident that Mo builds up the picture（s）of plural societies that are subjected to some forms of power． Like Foucault， however，

Mo s conception of power is not merely prohibitive but rather productive． He dissects it in conte文t， not proposing a global form of intelligibility but opening vistas of interpretations of social facts and the discourse that underlie them． He looks at Asia

without complacency and sees it as a powerful geographical area trying to extricate itself out of a system of representations at a time when the temptation is great to adopt hastily elaborated sets of global values through targeted pieces of truncated information。

Mo s fiction defies global definition as far as belonging to one genre or the other is concemed． Refiecting on the novelist s decision to set up his own imprint， a journalist justified it by the fact that Mo has this annoying habit of writing a different novel each time， which drives some editors mad 3！． As Hall has pointed out32， in the eyes of reviewers and critics， the very fact that he is of mixed parentage， born in Hong Kong

but British by nationality fill in the requirements to be assimilated into an acknowledged group of postcolonial writers． John McLeod readily claims that Mo

a 垂撃浮窒≠撃奄狽凵@of reasons rather than one unitary reason 34． While his themes are universal， indeed in more than one way he has inscribed himself as the heir to

traditional British fiction writers， he obeys to the postcolonialist concern with

1London， Andre Deutsch，1978．

2London， Andre Deutsch，1982．

3London， Chatto＆Windus，1986．

4London， Chatto＆Windus，1991．

5 London， Paddleless，1995．

6 London， Paddleless，1999．

7Quoted from Tonkin， Boyd：Interview， Timothy Mo〜Postcards from the Edge ， The Independent，

  10July 1999．

8 See note 7．

g Clifford， James，7「舵Predica〃len q／Culture二Twentieth−Centuη〜Ethn（〜graphy， L iterature an∂ノ1rt，

 Cambridge， Harvard University Press，1988， p．272．

lo Said， Edward，0γ2吻彪偽勿， London， p．5，

11Theルfonk己ソKing， P．5．

12id．， pユ6．

      愛知淑徳大学論集 一コミュニケーション学部篇一 創刊号

13id．， p．14．

14id．， p．214．

15id．， p．100．

16McLeod， John： Living In−Between：Interstitial Spaces of Possibility in Mo s Sour Sweet ， in   Eamshaw， Steven，（ed．）／test」PostmodernlSm， Amsterdam， Rodopi，1997， p．115．

17The following chapters trace the Chens life：1，3，5，7，9，10，11，12，14，15，17，19，21，22，23，25，26，27，28，29，31，32，34

  and 36．

18Hal1， Laura： New Nations， New Selves：The Novels of Timothy Mo and Kazuo Ishiguro ， in Lee，

  A．Robert（ed．）， Other Bri tain． Other Bri tish；Contemporary Multicultural Fiction， Pluto Press， London，

  1995，p．90−110．

19Ho， Elaine Yee Lin： How Not to Write History：Timothy Mo s An lnsular Possession ， ARIEL（A   Review of lnternational English Literature）， Vol．25， No．3，1994， p．56．

20McLeod， John， On the Chase for Gideon Nye ，ノburnel Of Commonwealth Literature， VoL34， No．2，

  1999，pp．61−73．

21See note 20．

22An Insula「」Possession， p．359．

23Jaggi， Maya： A Life in Writing：Mixtures Like Candied Napalm in The Guardian， 7 October 2000．

24Tonkin， Boyd； Postcards from the edge：globe−trotting Timothy Mo is back ， in The lndOpendent，

  10July 1999．

25Brownout on Breadfruit Boulevard， p．20．

26id．， P．29．

27id．， p．30．

28id．， p．62．

29Dovidio， John（et aL） Stereotyping， Prejudice， ≠獅п@Discrimination：Another Look ， in Macrae，

  C．Neil（ed．）， Stereo敬ρes and Stereo吻p￠｝ing， p．280

30Kritzman， Lawrence D．（ed．）： On Power ， in Michel、Foucault，∫〕blitics， PhilosoPhy， Culture， Interviews and Other VVηitings，1977−1984， London， Routledge，1988， p．104。

31 Publish and be damned ， S吻仇China〃Morning Post， Apri130，1995．

32See note 18．

33McLeod， John： Living In−Between：Interstitial Spaces of Possibility in Mo s Sour Sweet ， in   Eamshaw， Steven，（ed．）／test Postmodernism， Amsterdam， Rodopi，1997， p．111． Also， McLeod， John：

  Rewriting Histo7y ： Postmodern and Postcolonial∧Negohations in tite Fiction of E G．飽η酩Timotlry   Mo， Kazuo Ishiguro and Salman Rushdie， University of Leeds， Unpublished PhD Dissertation，1995，

  pp．1−24．

34Quoted in Swain， Stella： Postmodern Narratives and the Absurdity of Law ， in Earnshaw， Steven：

  Jztst Postmodern iSm， Amsterdam， Rodopi，1997．