Failure, nationalism, and literature : the making of modern Chinese identity, 1895-1937 / Jing Tsu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tsu, Jing.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nationalism--China.

Nationalism.

National characteristics.

China.

National characteristics--China.

China--Politics and government--20th century.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xii, 329 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2005.

Summary:

How often do we think of cultural humiliation and failure as strengths? Against prevailing views on what it means to enjoy power as individuals, cultures, or nations, this provocative book looks at the making of cultural and national identities in modern China as building success on failure. It reveals the exercise of sovereign power where we least expect it and shows how this is crucial to our understanding of a modern world of conflict, violence, passionate suffering, and cultural difference.

Contents:

1 Failure and Identity 1

2 The Yellow Race 32

3 The Menace of Race 66

4 Loving the Nation, Preserving the Race 98

5 The Quest for Beauty and Notions of Femininity 128

6 Community of Expiation: Confessions, Masochism, and Masculinity 167

7 Kumen, Cultural Suffering 195

Conclusion: The Emergence of Culture in Failure 222.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [289]-322) and index.

ISBN:

0804751765

OCLC:

60824225