Suppressed Modernity (A New Discussion on Late Qing Fiction)

Author: Wang De-wei (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: In the study of Chinese narrative literature, late Qing Dynasty novels have long been overlooked. However, from historical, aesthetic, ideological, and cultural production perspectives, the sharpness and complexity of these novels are more than enough to open one's eyes. For scholars of modern literature, late Qing novels are not merely a transitional phase from tradition to modernity; their emergence—or even their neglect—alone testifies to one aspect of modernity in Chinese literature. This book treats late Qing novels as an emerging cultural field, selecting four genres from the late Qing period: courtesan tales, martial-arts detective stories, grotesque and satirical tales, and science fiction to represent four interwoven discourses of desire, justice, values, and truth. Through the redefinition and debate of these discourses, the book presents the main concerns of 21st-century Chinese literature and its construction. By constructing the historical and theoretical context of late Qing literature and excavating the multiple modernities contained within the obstructed late Qing novels, this book seeks to trace the origins of the cacophony of modern Chinese literature. Without the late Qing, how could there be the May Fourth Movement?