In Memory of Věna Hrdličková, 1925–2016

IN MEMORY OF VĚNA HRDLIČKOVÁ, 1925–2016 VIBEKE BØRDAHL Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen University, Denmark The Czech diplomat and scholar, Dr. Věnceslava Hrdličková (see fig. 1), passed away on January 20, 2016. She dedicated her life to Chinese and Japanese literature, in particular the art of storytelling in both countries, as well as folk arts and crafts, gardens, and the culture of bonsai. Together with her husband, Zdeněk Hrdlička FIG. 1. Věna Hrdličková in China, 2004. Photo courtesy of the Hrdličkovi family. CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature 35.1 (July 2016): 83–88© The Permanent Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature, Inc. 2016 DOI 10.1080/01937774.2016.1183326 (1919–1999; see fig. 2), she conducted pioneer studies on oral Chinese folk culture and storytelling and singing arts (shuochang 說唱/quyi 曲藝) in the 1950s in Beijing, Tianjin, and other north Chinese towns, paying special attention to Jingyun dagu 京 韻大鼓 (Beijing drum singing), and Lianhua lao 蓮花落 (Lotus flower songs). Věnceslava , known to all as Věna, submitted her doctoral thesis on Chinese storytelling in 1959. In the 1950s and 1960s, the couple already published, both in Czech and in English, about twenty articles on contemporary Chinese storytelling and storysinging , as well as on the origin of these arts. Most of the articles published under Věna’s name alone were in English. Based on her personal fieldwork and wide reading of contemporary Chinese scholars’ writings on the topic of storytelling, these articles opened the door to the field of Chinese oral performance literature for Western students and became standard references for decades. In 2004, Lucie Olivová published a biographical essay about the Hrdličkovi couple in CHINOPERL Papers.1 Olivová, a former student of Věna Hrdličková at Charles University in Prague, had already compiled a complete bibliography of the works of FIG. 2. The young couple Věna and Zdeněk Hrdlička visiting the famous painter Qi Baishi 齊白石 (1864–1957) in Beijing, 1950s. Photo courtesy of the Hrdličkovi family. 1 Lucie Olivová, “Chinese and Japanese Storytelling: Selected Topical Bibliography of the Works of Věna Hrdličková and Zdeněk Hrdlička,” CHINOPERL Papers 25 (2004): 87–97. Here I would only like to draw attention to three articles that Věna published after 2004: “The Story of Lao Ma and its Versions in Beijing Storytelling,” CHINOPERL Papers 27 (2007): 25– 42; “Poetic Principles of Chinese Storytellers in their Own Interpretation,” in Raoul David Findeisen and Martin Slobodník, eds., Talking Literature: Essays on Chinese and Biblical Writings and their 84 CHINOPERL: JOURNAL OF CHINESE ORAL AND PERFORMING LITERATURE 35.1 the couple in 2002.2 Her biographical essay is based on intimate and first-hand knowledge about the life and work of her teacher. I strongly recommend that article, but here I want to add a few personal thoughts and formally say goodbye to Věna. As early as the 1940s–1950s, Western scholars were interested in the oral roots of the Chinese novel and short story. The historical documents with relevance for the early genres of vernacular literature began to be looked at in a new way. Professor Jaroslav Prûšek (1906–1980) was among the most prolific scholars in this field since the 1940s, when Věna and Zdeněk began to study Chinese at Charles University. In the Soviet Union, Boris Riftin (1932–2012) and others were beginning to show interest in the same field.3 However, in the 1950s it was mainly Chinese scholars who undertook fieldwork on contemporary orally performed arts in China, and this kind of research was only very rarely undertaken by scholars from Europe4 and the U.S.A.5 When Věna delivered her thesis on Chinese storytelling in 1959, it must have been the first such thesis on this subject completed in the Western world. Apart from a short newspaper article in Czech in 1951, Věna’s articles during the decade of 1958–1968 were all substantial contributions to a field of studies that was only in its infancy among Western Sinologists. In her article “The Chinese Storytellers and Singers...