Occidentalism : a theory of counter-discourse in post-Mao China / Xiaomei Chen ; foreword by Jinhua Dai.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Chen, Xiaomei, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Chinese literature.
• China--Intellectual life--1976-.
• China.
• Intellectual life.
• China--Politics and government--1976-.
• Politics and government.
• Chinese literature--20th century--Western influences.

Physical Description:

xxviii, 259 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

Second edition, revised and expanded.

Other Title:

Theory of counter-discourse in post-Mao China

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield, [2002]

Summary:

This revised and expanded edition of the first comprehensive study of Occidentalism in post-Mao China includes a new preface, foreword, and chapter on Chinese diaspora writings in the Chinese language. Presenting an original model of comparative literary and cultural studies, Xiaomei Chen goes beyond Edward Said's construction in Orientalism of crosscultural appropriations as a defining facet of Western imperialism. Instead, she argues that the appropriation of Western discourse--what she calls Occidentalism--can actually have a politically and ideologically liberating effect on contemporary non-Western culture. Visit our website for sample chapters! Using China as the focus of her analysis, Chen examines a variety of cultural media, from Shakespearean drama, to Western modernist poetry, to contemporary Chinese television. She thus places sinology in the general context of Western theoretical discourses, such as Eurocentrism, postcolonialism, nationalism, modernism, feminism, and literary hermeneutics, showing that they have a vital role to play in the study of Orient and Occident and their now unavoidable symbiotic relationship.

Contents:

• 1 Occidentalism as a Counter-Discourse: The He shang Controversy 23
• 2 Occidentalist Theater: Shakespeare, ibsen, and Brecht as Counter Others 43
• 3 "Misunderstanding" Western Modernism: The Menglong Movement 59
• 4 A Wildman between the Orient and the Occident: Retro-Influence in Comparative Literary Studies 87
• 5 Wilder, Mei Lanfang, and Huang Zuolin: A "Suggestive Theater" Revisited 105
• 6 Fathers and Daughters in Early Modern Chinese Drama: On the Problematics of Occidentalism in Cross-Cultural/Gender Perspectives 121
• 7 China Writes Back: Reading Stories of the Chinese Diaspora 139.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-245) and index.

ISBN:

0847698750

OCLC:

49529950