After the Extension of Ritual Ethics: Critical Issues in Chinese Culture--Edge Criticism Series

Author: Zhao Yiheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-01-01
Features: This collection primarily gathers literary criticism and cultural research works by Chinese scholars studying abroad. The authors of this series are mostly well-known critics in China who have studied overseas in recent two decades. Due to their identities, subjects, and languages, they conduct research on Chinese literature and culture in overseas academies, which generally falls under "peripheral disciplines." However, after obtaining degrees and academic positions abroad or frequently crossing boundaries, their critical writings become a "peripheral voice" in the domestic academic circles. Peripherality can actually or already be a central discourse in theoretical circles. Edward Said also hoped that intellectuals could possess a marginality like that of true exiles. But for the authors of the "Peripheral Criticism Series," peripherality is more of an unavoidable academic reality than a deliberate pursuit. What peripherality signifies is not a rigidly opposing spatial position to the center, but the critics' navigation and movement between the gaps of the center. Peripheral authors appropriate various theoretical strategies with mixed origins, adjust and organize their textual experiences, and respond to the historical contexts that confront them.