Research Catalog

Title

Occidentalism : a theory of counter-discourse in post-Mao China / Xiaomei Chen.

Author

Chen, Xiaomei, 1954-

Publication

New York : Oxford University Press, 1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 239 pages; 22 cm

Summary

• In the first comprehensive study of Occidentalism in post-Mao China, Xiaomei Chen offers an insightful account of the unremittingly favorable depiction of Western culture and its negative characterization of Chinese culture in post-Mao China from 1978-1988. She examines the cultural and political interrelations between the East and West from a vantage point more complex than that accommodated by most current theories of Western imperialism and colonialism.
• Going beyond Edward Said's construction in Orientalism of cross-cultural appropriations as a defining facet of Western imperialism, Chen 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. She maintains that simplistic allegations of Orientalism frequently found in current critical discourses seriously underestimate the complexities of intercultural and multicultural relationships.
• Occidentalism presents a new model of comparative literary and cultural studies that reenvisions cross-cultural appropriation. It will be indispensable to future discussions of Orientalism, Occidentalism, and postcolonialism, as well as subaltern studies, Asian studies, comparative literature, cultural studies, and non-Western drama.

Subject

• Since 1900
• East and West
• Chinese literature > 20th century > Western influences
• 18.86 Chinese language and literature
• Chinese literature > Western influences
• Intellectual life
• Politics and government
• Kultur
• Okzidentalisierende Literatur
• Orient et Occident
• Chine > Politique et gouvernement
• Littérature chinoise > 20e siècle > Influence occidentale
• Littérature chinoise > 20e siècle
• Geschichte 1976-1988
• China > Intellectual life > 1976-
• China > Politics and government > 1976-2002
• China
• China
• Westliche Welt
• Chine > Vie intellectuelle > 1976- ..

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-232) and index.

Contents

. 1. Occidentalism as a counter-discourse : He shang controversy -- 2. Occidentalist theater : Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Brecht as counter others -- 3. "Misunderstanding" Western modernism : the Menglong movement -- 4. A wildman between the Orient and the Occident : Retro-influence in comparative literary studies -- 5. Wilder, Mei Langfang and Huang Zuolin : a "Suggestive theater" revisited -- 6. Fathers and daughters in early modern Chinese drama : On the problematics of occidentalism in cross-cultural/gender perspective.

ISBN

• 0195085795
• 9780195085792

LCCN

93044883

OCLC

• ocm29563732
• 29563732
• SCSB-14439335

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library