Visions of Dystopia in China’s New Historical Novels

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Asian, Far Eastern, Theory, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
Cover of the book Visions of Dystopia in China’s New Historical Novels by Jeffrey Kinkley, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jeffrey Kinkley ISBN: 9780231532297
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: November 18, 2014
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Jeffrey Kinkley
ISBN: 9780231532297
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: November 18, 2014
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

The depiction of personal and collective suffering in modern Chinese novels differs significantly from standard Communist accounts and many Eastern and Western historical narratives. Writers such as Yu Hua, Su Tong, Wang Anyi, Mo Yan, Han Shaogong, Ge Fei, Li Rui, and Zhang Wei skew and scramble common conceptions of China's modern development, deploying avant-garde narrative techniques from Latin American and Euro-American modernism to project a surprisingly "un-Chinese" dystopian vision and critical view of human culture and ethics.

The epic narratives of modern Chinese fiction make rich use of magical realism, surrealism, and unusual treatments of historical time. Also featuring graphic depictions of sex and violence, as well as dark, raunchy comedy, these novels reflect China's recent history re-presenting the overthrow of the monarchy in the early twentieth century and the resulting chaos of revolution and war; the recurring miseries perpetrated by class warfare during the dictatorship of Mao Zedong; and the social dislocations caused by China's industrialization and rise as a global power. This book casts China's highbrow historical novels from the late 1980s to the first decade of the twenty-first century as a distinctively Chinese contribution to the form of the global dystopian novel and, consequently, to global thinking about the interrelations of utopia and dystopia.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The depiction of personal and collective suffering in modern Chinese novels differs significantly from standard Communist accounts and many Eastern and Western historical narratives. Writers such as Yu Hua, Su Tong, Wang Anyi, Mo Yan, Han Shaogong, Ge Fei, Li Rui, and Zhang Wei skew and scramble common conceptions of China's modern development, deploying avant-garde narrative techniques from Latin American and Euro-American modernism to project a surprisingly "un-Chinese" dystopian vision and critical view of human culture and ethics.

The epic narratives of modern Chinese fiction make rich use of magical realism, surrealism, and unusual treatments of historical time. Also featuring graphic depictions of sex and violence, as well as dark, raunchy comedy, these novels reflect China's recent history re-presenting the overthrow of the monarchy in the early twentieth century and the resulting chaos of revolution and war; the recurring miseries perpetrated by class warfare during the dictatorship of Mao Zedong; and the social dislocations caused by China's industrialization and rise as a global power. This book casts China's highbrow historical novels from the late 1980s to the first decade of the twenty-first century as a distinctively Chinese contribution to the form of the global dystopian novel and, consequently, to global thinking about the interrelations of utopia and dystopia.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book Secularism and Cosmopolitanism by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Al-Qaeda's Revenge by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Bio-pics by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book The Wheel by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Field Notes from Elsewhere by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Strange Wonder by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Modernism at the Barricades by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book In Another Country by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Reassembling Motherhood by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Evolution and the Emergent Self by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book The Problem with Pleasure by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book The Garden and the Fire by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia by Jeffrey Kinkley
Cover of the book A Semite by Jeffrey Kinkley
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy