Shanghai Modern: A New Urban Culture in China, 1930-1945

Author: Li Ou-fan (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-12-01
Features: The choice of "literary history" over "biographies of literary masters" or "critiques of literature" as the primary form of literary research in Chinese academia clearly benefits from the wave of Western learning spreading to the East. From the transformation of literary concepts and the shift in the positioning of literary genres, to the reform of the education system and the renewal of curriculum design, "literary history" gradually became a familiar knowledge system for the Chinese. As a form of writing that combines education and research, "literary history" in 20th-century China achieved an extraordinary level of production and dissemination. The first half of this book gradually depicts the life of this magnificent metropolis in the midst of great times—from the intrusion of material culture like automobiles, foreign-style houses, cigars, and rackets, to various forms of entertainment, symbolizing modernity, which in turn extends to the subtle process of how modern consciousness exists in Shanghai. Slowly, it accumulates the sounds, images, and goods a city can offer, transforming them into art. Shanghai then officially becomes a mediator connecting China with other cultures of the world, forming an international cultural space. Li Ou-fan's reconstructed image of Shanghai is not one of nostalgic clamor; he guides readers to see the cultural geography marked by urban culture and modern literature. This book alsos the style of cultural criticism for the new century. It is a "decadent and unrestrained" novel about Shanghai by the renowned scholar Li Ou-fan, a prose written in the "love-and-romance" style, a cultural topographic map filled with spatial and temporal dislocations, and dazzling with sounds and lights. Additionally, it is an extremely serious critical monograph, with Walter Benjamin as its unseen presence behind the scenes.