TITLE:
A Coarse Recovery: Tactile Writing in Scar Literature
AUTHORS:
Shen Yang
KEYWORDS:
Scar Literature, Tactile Writing, The Body, Trauma, Cultural Revolution
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.8,
August
1,
2025
ABSTRACT: This essay analyzes the evolution of tactile writing in modern Chinese literature by contrasting its suppression during the Cultural Revolution with its revival in Scar Literature. It argues that collectivist political discourse effaced the private, sensory body, leading to the absence of touch in texts from that era. The subsequent return of tactile writing was central to Scar Literature’s humanist project of representing trauma and restoring individual subjectivity. Characterized as a “coarse recovery”—often binary and direct—this revival nonetheless served as a vital bridge, reconnecting literature with embodied human experience and paving the way for greater artistic depth.