Why Fiction Matters in Contemporary China (The Mandel Lectures in the Humanities at Brandeis University)

Der-wei Wang, David

ISBN 10: 1684580277 / ISBN 13: 9781684580279

Edité par Brandeis University Press, 2020

A propos de cet article

Very Good - Crisp, clean, unread book with some shelfwear/edgewear, may have a remainder mark - NICE PAPERBACK Standard-sized.

N° de réf. du vendeur M1684580277Z2

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Why Fiction Matters in Contemporary China (The Mandel Lectures in the Humanities at Brandeis University)
• Éditeur: Brandeis University Press
• Date de parution: 2020
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1684580277
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781684580279
• Reliure: paperback
• État de l'article: Very Good

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Contemporary discussions of China tend to focus on politics and economics, giving Chinese culture little if any attention. Why Fiction Matters in Contemporary China offers a corrective, revealing the crucial role that fiction plays in helping contemporary Chinese citizens understand themselves and their nation. Where history fails to address the consequences of man-made and natural atrocities, David Der-Wei Wang argues, fiction arises to bear witness to the immemorial and unforeseeable.

Beginning by examining President Xi Jinping's call in 2013 to "tell the good China story," Wang illuminates how contemporary Chinese cultural politics have taken a "fictional turn," which can trace its genealogy to early modern times. He does so by addressing a series of discourses by critics within China, including Liang Qichao, Lu Xun, and Shen Congwen, as well as critics from the West such as Arendt, Benjamin, and Deleuze. Wang highlights the variety and vitality of fictional works from China as well as the larger Sinophone world, ranging from science fiction to political allegory, erotic escapade to utopia and dystopia. The result is an insightful account of contemporary China, one that affords countless new insights and avenues for understanding.

À propos de l?auteur

David Der-wei Wang is the Edward C. Henderson Professor in Chinese and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. He is the author of The Lyrical in Epic Time: Modern Chinese Intellectuals and Artists Through the 1949 Crisis and the editor of A New Literary History of Modern China, among other books.