Overview
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
About this book
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
Table of contents (9 chapters)
-
Coda: Cultural Identity and Cultural Globalization
Reviews
"This is the first book to so thoroughly probe one of the questions that has haunted and continues to haunt Chinese writers: what does it mean to be Chinese? Through analysis of contemporary literary texts from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora, Chen sees the literary representation of identity as a spectrum of possibilities ranging from the ³authentic² (negotiating a cultural identity out of an interaction with traditional culture) to the ³hybrid² (reveling in plural identities). Within a framework shaped by postmodern and postcolonial theories, Chen shows a keen sensitivity in her reading of literary texts, which include those by writers as diverse as Wang Anyi, Zhu Tianxin and Zhu Tianwen, Dung Kai-cheung, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Gao Xingjian."- Kirk Denton, The Ohio State University
'Letty Chen has done magnificent work in rethinking the meaning and function of literary history and cultural politics. In Writing Chinese: Reshaping Chinese Cultural Identity, she looks into sources drawn from both indigenous and diasporic Chinese writings and teases out the radical elements in the contemporary debate about cultural and ethnic identities. Her book is an important source for anyone interested in Chinese and comparative literary and cultural studies.' - David Der-wei Wang, Harvard University
'Writing Chinese enacts a drama of personal and cultural identity along the jagged lines of travel, motion and assimilation. In lucid andflowing language Lingchei Letty Chen shows the poignant juggling acts of trying to find one's anchorage in the shifting sands of genealogies, memories, and national identifications. No sooner is Chineseness posited than it slips away to a new place in geopolitical power shuffling. Based on culture and literature in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, her provocative accounts articulate the dynamic matrix of authenticity, identity, and divided loyalty.' - Ban Wang, author of The Sublime Figure of History (1997) and Illuminations from the Past (2004)
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Writing Chinese
Book Subtitle: Reshaping Chinese Cultural Identity
Authors: Lingchei Letty Chen
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982988
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies Collection, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Lingchei Letty Chen 2006
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4039-7129-6Published: 19 May 2006
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-53290-2Published: 19 May 2006
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4039-8298-8Published: 29 April 2006
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 222
Topics: Social Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Asian Literature, Asian Languages, Ethnicity Studies, Literary Theory