Fictional Realism in Twentieth-century China

Fictional Realism in Twentieth-century China PDF Author: Dewei Wang
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231076562
Category : Chinese fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 396

Book Description
Although deconstruction has become a popular catchword, as an intellectual movement it has never entirely caught on within the university. For some in the academy, deconstruction, and Jacques Derrida in particular, are responsible for the demise of accountability in the study of literature. Countering these facile dismissals of Derrida and deconstruction, Herman Rapaport explores the incoherence that has plagued critical theory since the 1960s and the resulting legitimacy crisis in the humanities. Against the backdrop of a rich, informed discussion of Derrida's writings -- and how they have been misconstrued by critics and admirers alike -- The Theory Mess investigates the vicissitudes of Anglo-American criticism over the past thirty years and proposes some possibilities for reform.

The Monster That Is History

The Monster That Is History PDF Author: Dewei Wang
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520238737
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Book Description
In ancient China a monster called Taowu was known for both its vicious nature and its power to see the past and the future. Since the seventeenth century, fictive accounts of history have accommodated themselves to the monstrous nature of Taowu. Moving effortlessly across the entire twentieth-century literary landscape, David Der-wei Wang delineates the many meanings of Chinese violence and its literary manifestations.

The Limits of Realism

The Limits of Realism PDF Author: Marston Anderson
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520414748
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Book Description
Chinese intellectuals of the early twentieth century were attracted to realism primarily as a tool for social regeneration. Realism encouraged writers to adopt the stance of the independent cultural critic and drew into the compass of serious literature the disenfranchised "others" of Chinese society. As historical pressures forced new ideological commitments in the late twenties and thirties, however, writers grew suspicious both of the "individualism" implicit in the realist model and of the often superficial nature of the sympathies that their fiction evoked in the middle class. Anderson argues that realism must be defined negatively as a "discourse of limitations" and is of minimal utility in the Chinese search for political and cultural empowerment. He shows how hesitations about the realist model affect the fiction of four representative authors, Lu Xun, Ye Shaojun, Mao Dun, and Zhang Tianyi. He also considers the demise of critical realism in the face of a new collectivist understanding of Chinese reality. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.

From May Fourth to June Fourth

From May Fourth to June Fourth PDF Author: Ellen Widmer
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674325029
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 464

Book Description
What do Chinese literature and film inspired by the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) have in common with media of the May Fourth movement (1918–1930)? This book demonstrates several shared aims: to liberate narrative arts from aesthetic orthodoxies, to draw on foreign sources for inspiration, and to free individuals from social conformity.

Realism and Allegory in the Early Fiction of Mao Tun

Realism and Allegory in the Early Fiction of Mao Tun PDF Author: Youshi Zhen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description


The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century

The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century PDF Author: Bonnie S. McDougall
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231110853
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Book Description
A historical survey of 20th-century Chinese literature, this book chronicles the writers who - continuing in the Chinese tradition of using literature to exert moral, social, and political leadership - debated the nature, development and future of Chinese society.

Visions of Dystopia in China’s New Historical Novels

Visions of Dystopia in China’s New Historical Novels PDF Author: Jeffrey C. Kinkley
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231532296
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
The depiction of personal and collective suffering in modern Chinese novels differs significantly from standard Communist accounts and many Eastern and Western historical narratives. Writers such as Yu Hua, Su Tong, Wang Anyi, Mo Yan, Han Shaogong, Ge Fei, Li Rui, and Zhang Wei skew and scramble common conceptions of China's modern development, deploying avant-garde narrative techniques from Latin American and Euro-American modernism to project a surprisingly "un-Chinese" dystopian vision and critical view of human culture and ethics. The epic narratives of modern Chinese fiction make rich use of magical realism, surrealism, and unusual treatments of historical time. Also featuring graphic depictions of sex and violence, as well as dark, raunchy comedy, these novels reflect China's recent history re-presenting the overthrow of the monarchy in the early twentieth century and the resulting chaos of revolution and war; the recurring miseries perpetrated by class warfare during the dictatorship of Mao Zedong; and the social dislocations caused by China's industrialization and rise as a global power. This book casts China's highbrow historical novels from the late 1980s to the first decade of the twenty-first century as a distinctively Chinese contribution to the form of the global dystopian novel and, consequently, to global thinking about the interrelations of utopia and dystopia.

The New Woman in Early Twentieth-century Chinese Fiction

The New Woman in Early Twentieth-century Chinese Fiction PDF Author: Jin Feng
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 9781557533302
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
Jin Feng proposes that representation of the "new woman" in Communist Chinese fiction of the earlier twentieth century was paradoxically one of the ways in which male writers of the era explored, negotiated, and laid claim to their own emerging identity as "modern" intellectuals.

Found in Translation

Found in Translation PDF Author: Jing Jiang
Publisher: Asia Shorts
ISBN: 9780924304941
Category : Science fiction, Chinese
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Found in Translation investigates Chinese science fiction as a phenomenon of world literature. It highlights the ways in which science fiction intervened in critical debates on nationalism, realism, humanism, and environmentalism in twentieth-century China.

Fictional Authors, Imaginary Audiences

Fictional Authors, Imaginary Audiences PDF Author: Bonnie S. McDougall
Publisher: Chinese University Press
ISBN: 9789629961053
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
The authors and audiences for 20th century Chinese literature, especially fiction, are examined in a fresh light. While modern Chinese fictions are imaginary in that they do not constitute reliable portraits of Chinese life, they offer insights into the writers themselves and their implied audiences.