LOVE, WORK, FAMILY. WOMEN AND GENDER RELATIONS IN THE LITERARY WORK OF ZHANG JIE

Abstract

Zhang Jie (1937-2022) is an established author on the Chinese literary scene. Her first publications date back to the late 1970s, at the beginning of China's reform and opening-up policy. The effect of the country's political shift was also felt in the literary sphere with the emergence of different themes, genres and styles that moved away from socialist realism to reflect on the impact of Maoism on the Chinese population, such as the so-called "scar literature", which was written by men. However, the article proposes a feminist reading of this period. Based on three of Zhang Jie's works translated into Spanish, No olvidar el amor [1979] (1990), Galera [1982] (1995) and Esmeralda [1984] (2007), it analyses how this author's critical female gaze is reflected in the literary portraits of her protagonists and in the description of the relationships they have with their colleagues, husbands, children and cadres. In these works, Zhang Jie denouncesthe male power that perpetuates gender inequality, despite the Chinese Communist Party's socialist egalitarian discourse.