The Literary Field of Twentieth-Century China (Chinese Worlds)

ISBN 10: 0824822021 / ISBN 13: 9780824822026

Edité par University of Hawaii Press, University of Hawaii Press, 1999

A propos de cet article

New. The Literary Field of Twentieth-Century China (Chinese Worlds). University of Hawaii Press, 1999. 252pp. Language: English.

N° de réf. du vendeur 00005517

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Literary Field of Twentieth-Century China (Chinese Worlds)
• Éditeur: University of Hawaii Press, University of Hawaii Press
• Date de parution: 1999
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0824822021
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780824822026
• Reliure: Paperback
• État de l'article: New

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

This book is a collection of original essays on literary sociology that increases our understanding of modern China, its literature, and those who work in the field--authors, editors, and readers. The book is intended for upper undergraduate students and researchers of any level or background as it opens up new lines of theoretical inquiry and challenges conventional assumptions on the nature of writing and reading.

The editor offers a much-needed and long-awaited breakthrough in modern Chinese literary studies. The essays examine the sociological background leading to the production and consumption of literary texts, not only shedding light on the meaning and structure of those texts but also adding to our knowledge of the society in which they were produced and consumed. This is achieved by the rigorous application of a single methodology, that of Pierre Bourdieu, in a manner unprecedented in modern Chinese literary studies.

Présentation de l'éditeur

At least since the late nineteenth century onwards, Chinese literature as a form of cultural production has been taking place within a specific social space, including writers, critics, journalists, editors, publishers, printers and booksellers. Focusing on people as well as on texts, and looking at what writers did as well as at what they wrote, the essays in this volume draw a vivid and variegated picture of Chinese literary life throughout the modern period. The book treats differences between periods, but also traces the continuities that have characterised modern Chinese literary practice and its discourses from the beginning to the present, including ties of allegiance, utilisation of 'the people' and appropriation of the west. The book places modern Chinese literature firmly within its socio-historical context, thereby increasing the reader's awareness of the hidden assumptions behind literary production. In doing so, it opens new perspectives on Chinese culture as a whole, and on literature as a cosmopolitan concept.