In
Women’s Tanci Fiction in Late Imperial and Early Modern China, Li Guo presents the first book-length study in English of women’s
tanci fiction, the distinctive Chinese form of narrative written in rhymed lines during the late imperial to early modern period (related to, but different from, the orally performed version also called
tanci) She explores the tradition through a comparative analysis of five seminal texts. Guo argues that Chinese women writers of the period position the personal within the diegesis in order to reconfigure their moral commitments and personal desires. By fashioning a “feminine” representation of subjectivity,
tanci writers found a habitable space of self-expression in the male-dominated literary tradition.Through her discussion of the emergence, evolution, and impact of women’s
tanci, Guo shows how historical forces acting on the formation of the genre serve as the background for an investigation of cross-dressing, self-portraiture, and authorial self-representation. Further, Guo approaches anew the concept of “woman-oriented perspective” and argues that this perspective conceptualizes a narrative framework in which the heroine (s) are endowed with mobility to exercise their talent and power as social beings as men’s equals. Such a woman-oriented perspective redefines normalized gender roles with an eye to exposing women’s potentialities to transform historical and social customs in order to engender a world with better prospects for women.
Table of Content
Editor’s Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: Envisioning A Nascent Feminine Agency in
Zaishengyuan (Destiny of Rebirth)
Chapter Two: Disguised Scholar, Fox Spirit, and Moralism in
Bishenghua (Blossom from the Brush)
Chapter Three: Ethics, Filial Piety, and Narrative Sympathy in
Mengyingyuan (Dream, Image, Destiny)
Chapter Four: Gender, Spectatorship, and Literary Portraiture in
Mengyingyuan
Chapter Five: Cross-Dressing as a Collective Act in
Xianü qunying shi (A History of Women Warriors)
Chapter Six: Illustrating a New Woman in
Fengliu zuiren (The Valiant and The Culprit)
Conclusion
Appendix. Chinese Characters for Authors’ Names, Terms, and Titles of Works
Works Cited
Index
About the author
Li Guo teaches Chinese language, literature, culture, and Asian literatures at Utah State University. Her interests in scholarship include late imperial and modern Chinese women’s narratives, folk literature, film, and comparative literature. Guo’s recent publications include articles in
Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature (2014),
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (2013),
Film International (2012),
Frontiers of Literary Studies in China (2011, 2014), and
Consciousness: Literature and the Arts (2011).
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