Emerging from the Historical Surface: A Study of Modern Women's Literature

Author: Meng Yue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Perhaps no one denies that the fate of Chinese women is closely intertwined with the historical destiny of China. The special journey of women from the center of the earth to the surface, whether as a historical phenomenon or as a collective experience, is both intriguing and worthy of reflection that spans not only the past and present of history but also cuts across its inner and outer layers. The yesterday, today, and tomorrow of women do not represent the past, present, and future of the nation, but they can reveal certain aspects of the latter that remain deeply hidden to this day. Emerging from the Surface of History is a monograph that systematically employs a feminist stance to study the history of modern Chinese women's literature. With the help of psychoanalytic, structural, and post-structuralist theories, the book offers in-depth interpretations of the works of nine prominent modern female writers, including Lu Yin, Bing Xin, Ding Ling, and Eileen Chang, while outlining the formation and development of the tradition of women's writing within the broader historical and cultural context of modern China. The organic integration of theoretical approaches, textual analysis, and historical description presents the main characteristics of women's writing in different periods and aspects, as well as its unique position within the landscape of modern literary history. Since its publication in 1989, the book has had a wide-ranging impact and has been hailed as a landmark work in Chinese women's criticism and theoretical discourse, symbolizing the emergence of women's voices from the surface of history.