Intransitive encounter : Sino-U.S. literatures and the limits of exchange / Nan Z. Da.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Da, Nan Z., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--19th century--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--Chinese influences.

Chinese literature.

United States--Relations--China.

United States.

Relations.

China.

Chinese literature--19th century--History and criticism.

Chinese literature--American influences.

China--Relations--United States.

Culture in literature.

International relations.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

x, 294 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Sino-U.S. literatures and the limits of exchange

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]

Summary:

"In Intransitive Encounter, Nan Da argues that the transnational readings of literary and cultural exchanges often read too much into their significance or mistake the nature of that interaction. The push to characterize these exchanges as developing a cosmopolitanism or producing elements of cultural imperialism misses the particularities or limits of cross-cultural interactions. Taking a closer look at a series of encounters among Chinese and American writers, scholars, and activists during the nineteenth century, Nan Da considers how ideas from other cultures were actually thought about and used in ways to preserve their own national traditions or in ways quite different than their original intent. The book is structured around different episodes of exchange that includes such figures as Washington Irving, Emerson, Yung Wing (founder of the Chinese Educational Mission at Yale), Longfellow, and Chinese and American feminist writers at the end of the century" -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Intransitivity

Indifference in the open: squandering Washington Irving

Extreme reformality: burning bridges with Ralph Waldo Emerson

Incommunicative exchange: Yung Wing's impersonal schemes

The things things do not have to say: Longfellow to Dong Xun

Open books: Qiu Jin's feminist reading time

Harmless exaggeration: Edith Eaton's tweaks and glitches

Epilogue: untracking encounter

Appendix 1. A note on Chinese language appearances in the book

Appendix 2. Lexicon

Appendix 3. Historical movements, treaties, organizations, institutions

Appendix 4. List of Chinese book, essay, and magazine titles

Appendix 5. List of Chinese names.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Da, Nan Z., author. Intransitive encounter

ISBN:

9780231188029

0231188021

OCLC:

1035433057