The Literary Field of Twentieth Century China (Hardcover)

One of the things that makes modern Chinese literature modern is its professional context. At least since the late 19th century onwards, Chinese literature as a form of cultural production has been taking place within a specific social space, including writers, critics, journalists, editors, publishers, printers and booksellers. Although this "literary field" not always possessed a large degree of autonomy, its structure remained in existence even during periods of excessive ideological interference. The chapters in this book represent a collective effort by nine scholars from Europe, North America and China to understand what went on in modern China's literary field. Focusing on people as well as on texts, and looking at what writers did as well as at what they wrote, they draw a vivid and variegated picture of Chinese literary life throughout the modern period. This book treats differences between periods, but also traces the continuities that have characterized modern Chinese literary practice and its discourses from the beginning to the present, including ties of allegiance, utilization of the "people" and appropriation of the West. Moreover, it discusses the functioning of lit