Research Catalog
Testing the literary : prose and the aesthetic in early modern China
- Title
- Testing the literary : prose and the aesthetic in early modern China / Alexander Des Forges.
- Author
- Des Forges, Alexander Townsend, 1970-
- Publication
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Asia Center, 2021.
- ©2021
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 21-8088 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xi, 293 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.
- Summary
- "The civil service examination essay-known as shiwen (modern or contemporary prose) or bagu wen (eight-legged essay) for its complex structure-was the most widely read and written literary genre in early modern China (1450-1850). As the primary mode of expression in which educated individuals were schooled, shiwen epitomized the literary enterprise even beyond the walls of the examination compound. But shiwen suffered condemnation in the shift in discourse on literary writing that followed the fall of the Ming dynasty, and were thoroughly rejected in the May Fourth iconoclasm of the early twentieth century. Challenging conventional disregard for the genre, Alexander Des Forges reads the examination essay from a literary perspective, showing how shiwen redefined prose aesthetics and transformed the work of writing. A new approach to subjectivity took shape: the question "who is speaking?" resonated through the essays' involuted prose style, foregrounding issues of agency and control. At the same time, the anonymity of the bureaucratic evaluation process highlighted originality as a literary value. Finally, an emphasis on questions of form marked the aesthetic as a key arena for contestation of authority as candidates, examiners, and critics joined to form a dominant social class of literary producers"--
- Series Statement
- Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 125
- Uniform Title
- Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 125.
- Subject
- 1368-1912
- Chinese examination essays > History and criticism
- Chinese essays > Ming dynasty, 1368-1644 > History and criticism
- Chinese essays > Qing dynasty, 1644-1912 > History and criticism
- Chinese prose literature > Ming dynasty, 1368-1644 > History and criticism
- Chinese prose literature > Qing dynasty, 1644-1912 > History and criticism
- Aesthetics in literature
- LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics
- Chinese essays
- Chinese essays > Ming dynasty
- Chinese examination essays
- Chinese prose literature
- Chinese prose literature > Ming dynasty
- Qing Dynasty (China)
- Genre/Form
- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Contents
- Voice : an ideology of technique -- Representative style -- Measures and matches -- The examined subject -- Anonymity and identity.
- Call Number
- JFE 21-8088
- ISBN
- 9780674251182
- 0674251180
- LCCN
- 2020050237
- OCLC
- 1198019640
- Author
- Des Forges, Alexander Townsend, 1970- author.
- Title
- Testing the literary : prose and the aesthetic in early modern China / Alexander Des Forges.
- Publisher
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Asia Center, 2021.
- Copyright Date
- ©2021
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Series
- Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 125Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 125.
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Chronological Term
- 1368-1912
- Research Call Number
- JFE 21-8088