Masculinity Besieged?: Issues of Modernity and Male Subjectivity in Chinese Literature of the Late Twentieth Century
by Xueping Zhong
Duke University Press, 2000 Paper: 978-0-8223-2442-3 | Cloth: 978-0-8223-2406-5 | eISBN: 978-0-8223-9726-7 Library of Congress Classification PL2303.Z48 2000 Dewey Decimal Classification 895.109352041
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
In Masculinity Besieged? Xueping Zhong looks at Chinese literature and films produced during the 1980s to examine male subjectivities in contemporary China. Reading through a feminist psychoanalytic lens, Zhong argues that understanding the nature of male subjectivities as portrayed in literature and film is crucial to understanding China’s ongoing quest for modernity. Before the 1990s onslaught of popular culture decentered the role of intellectuals within the nation, they had come to embody Chinese masculinity during the previous decade. The focus on masculinity in literature had become unprecedented in scale and the desire for “real men” began to permeate Chinese popular culture, making icons out of Rambo and Takakura Ken. Stories by Zhang Xianliang and Liu Heng portraying male anxiety about masculine sexuality are employed by Zhong to show how “marginal” males negotiate their sexual identities in relation to both women and the state. Looking at writers popular among not only the well-educated but also the working and middle classes, she discusses works by Han Shaogong, Yu Hua, and Wang Shuo and examines instances of self-loathing male voices, particularly as they are articulated in Mo Yan’s well-known work Red Sorghum. In her last chapter Zhong examines “roots literature,” which speaks of the desire to create strong men as a part of the effort to create a geopolitically strong Chinese nation. In an afterword, Zhong situates her study in the context of the 1990s. This book will be welcomed by scholars of Chinese cultural studies, as well as in literary and gender studies.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Xueping Zhong is Assistant Professor in the Department of German/Russian/Asian Languages at Tufts University.
REVIEWS
“[A] highly valuable and inspiring work for anyone who is interested in understanding the proliferation of gender binarism and essentialist notions of gender in post-Mao China.” - Tze-Lan D. Sang, The Journal of Asian Studies
“By pulling together a comprehensive discussion of these writers and their critics, Zhong has provided a useful overview of this period in Chinese literature. She also summarizes and applies several major theoretical influences, such as Hegel, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, and feminists such as Silverman and Butler.” - Susan Brownell, The China Journal
"A thoughtful study. . . . Even those not necessarily committed to a feminist or psychoanalytic approach to this material will welcome the attention [Zhong] brings to bear on some notable works of contemporary Chinese fiction." - Allan H. Barr, China Review International
“This is an outstanding book. Rarely does one come across a work in the China field that considers gender and related theoretical issues with as deep a sense of history as does this one. Zhong’s scholarship provides us with extraordinary new insights into the cultural politics of post-Mao China in the 1980s.”—Lydia Liu, University of California, Berkeley
“I cannot think of a single other work on China that goes into the cultural politics of masculinity in contemporary Chinese literature in such depth. This book will generate a great deal of discussion.”—Lisa Rofel, University of California, Santa Cruz
“Bold, far-reaching in its implications, brilliant in its interpretation of specific texts. Zhong has contributed to the growing literature of the meanings of Chinese modernity in a most illuminating way.”—Marilyn Young, New York University
“[A] highly valuable and inspiring work for anyone who is interested in understanding the proliferation of gender binarism and essentialist notions of gender in post-Mao China.”
-- Tze-Lan D. Sang Journal of Asian Studies
“By pulling together a comprehensive discussion of these writers and their critics, Zhong has provided a useful overview of this period in Chinese literature. She also summarizes and applies several major theoretical influences, such as Hegel, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, and feminists such as Silverman and Butler.”
-- Susan Brownell The China Journal
"A thoughtful study. . . . Even those not necessarily committed to a feminist or psychoanalytic approach to this material will welcome the attention [Zhong] brings to bear on some notable works of contemporary Chinese fiction."
-- Allan H. Barr China Review International
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Masculinity Besieged? Toward an Understanding of Chinese Modernity and Male Subjectivity
Chapter 2. Sexuality and Male Desire for "Potency"
Chapter 3. From Heroes to Adjuncts, Nobodies, and Antiheroes: The Politics of (Male) Marginality
Chapter 4. Zazhong gaoliang and the Male Search for Masculinity
Chapter 5. Manhood, Cultural Roots, and National Identity
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
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Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Masculinity Besieged?: Issues of Modernity and Male Subjectivity in Chinese Literature of the Late Twentieth Century
by Xueping Zhong
Duke University Press, 2000 Paper: 978-0-8223-2442-3 Cloth: 978-0-8223-2406-5 eISBN: 978-0-8223-9726-7
In Masculinity Besieged? Xueping Zhong looks at Chinese literature and films produced during the 1980s to examine male subjectivities in contemporary China. Reading through a feminist psychoanalytic lens, Zhong argues that understanding the nature of male subjectivities as portrayed in literature and film is crucial to understanding China’s ongoing quest for modernity. Before the 1990s onslaught of popular culture decentered the role of intellectuals within the nation, they had come to embody Chinese masculinity during the previous decade. The focus on masculinity in literature had become unprecedented in scale and the desire for “real men” began to permeate Chinese popular culture, making icons out of Rambo and Takakura Ken. Stories by Zhang Xianliang and Liu Heng portraying male anxiety about masculine sexuality are employed by Zhong to show how “marginal” males negotiate their sexual identities in relation to both women and the state. Looking at writers popular among not only the well-educated but also the working and middle classes, she discusses works by Han Shaogong, Yu Hua, and Wang Shuo and examines instances of self-loathing male voices, particularly as they are articulated in Mo Yan’s well-known work Red Sorghum. In her last chapter Zhong examines “roots literature,” which speaks of the desire to create strong men as a part of the effort to create a geopolitically strong Chinese nation. In an afterword, Zhong situates her study in the context of the 1990s. This book will be welcomed by scholars of Chinese cultural studies, as well as in literary and gender studies.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Xueping Zhong is Assistant Professor in the Department of German/Russian/Asian Languages at Tufts University.
REVIEWS
“[A] highly valuable and inspiring work for anyone who is interested in understanding the proliferation of gender binarism and essentialist notions of gender in post-Mao China.” - Tze-Lan D. Sang, The Journal of Asian Studies
“By pulling together a comprehensive discussion of these writers and their critics, Zhong has provided a useful overview of this period in Chinese literature. She also summarizes and applies several major theoretical influences, such as Hegel, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, and feminists such as Silverman and Butler.” - Susan Brownell, The China Journal
"A thoughtful study. . . . Even those not necessarily committed to a feminist or psychoanalytic approach to this material will welcome the attention [Zhong] brings to bear on some notable works of contemporary Chinese fiction." - Allan H. Barr, China Review International
“This is an outstanding book. Rarely does one come across a work in the China field that considers gender and related theoretical issues with as deep a sense of history as does this one. Zhong’s scholarship provides us with extraordinary new insights into the cultural politics of post-Mao China in the 1980s.”—Lydia Liu, University of California, Berkeley
“I cannot think of a single other work on China that goes into the cultural politics of masculinity in contemporary Chinese literature in such depth. This book will generate a great deal of discussion.”—Lisa Rofel, University of California, Santa Cruz
“Bold, far-reaching in its implications, brilliant in its interpretation of specific texts. Zhong has contributed to the growing literature of the meanings of Chinese modernity in a most illuminating way.”—Marilyn Young, New York University
“[A] highly valuable and inspiring work for anyone who is interested in understanding the proliferation of gender binarism and essentialist notions of gender in post-Mao China.”
-- Tze-Lan D. Sang Journal of Asian Studies
“By pulling together a comprehensive discussion of these writers and their critics, Zhong has provided a useful overview of this period in Chinese literature. She also summarizes and applies several major theoretical influences, such as Hegel, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, and feminists such as Silverman and Butler.”
-- Susan Brownell The China Journal
"A thoughtful study. . . . Even those not necessarily committed to a feminist or psychoanalytic approach to this material will welcome the attention [Zhong] brings to bear on some notable works of contemporary Chinese fiction."
-- Allan H. Barr China Review International
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Masculinity Besieged? Toward an Understanding of Chinese Modernity and Male Subjectivity
Chapter 2. Sexuality and Male Desire for "Potency"
Chapter 3. From Heroes to Adjuncts, Nobodies, and Antiheroes: The Politics of (Male) Marginality
Chapter 4. Zazhong gaoliang and the Male Search for Masculinity
Chapter 5. Manhood, Cultural Roots, and National Identity
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE