Chinese Theories of Fiction: A Non-Western Narrative System (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture) - Softcover

Gu, Ming Dong

Softcover

ISBN 10: 079146816X ISBN 13: 9780791468166

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2007

Synopsis

An ambitious, innovative work that proposes a distinctly Chinese theory of fiction.

In this innovative work, Ming Dong Gu examines Chinese literature and traditional Chinese criticism to construct a distinctly Chinese theory of fiction and places it within the context of international fiction theory. He argues that because Chinese fiction, or xiaoshuo, was produced in a tradition very different from that of the West, it has formed a system of fiction theory that cannot be adequately accounted for by Western fiction theory grounded in mimesis and realism. Through an inquiry into the macrocosm of Chinese fiction, the art of formative works, and theoretical data in fiction commentaries and intellectual thought, Gu explores the conceptual and historical conditions of Chinese fiction in relation to European and world fiction. In the process, Gu critiques and challenges some accepted views of Chinese fiction and provides a theoretical basis for fresh approaches to fiction study in general and Chinese fiction in particular. Such masterpieces as the Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase) and the Hongloumeng (The Story of the Stone) are discussed at length to advance his notion of fiction and fiction theory.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In this innovative work, Ming Dong Gu examines Chinese literature and traditional Chinese criticism to construct a distinctly Chinese theory of fiction and places it within the context of international fiction theory. He argues that because Chinese fiction, or xiaoshuo, was produced in a tradition very different from that of the West, it has formed a system of fiction theory that cannot be adequately accounted for by Western fiction theory grounded in mimesis and realism. Through an inquiry into the macrocosm of Chinese fiction, the art of formative works, and theoretical data in fiction commentaries and intellectual thought, Gu explores the conceptual and historical conditions of Chinese fiction in relation to European and world fiction. In the process, Gu critiques and challenges some accepted views of Chinese fiction and provides a theoretical basis for fresh approaches to fiction study in general and Chinese fiction in particular. Such masterpieces as the Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase) and the Hongloumeng (The Story of the Stone) are discussed at length to advance his notion of fiction and fiction theory.

"The author’s efforts to theorize and to place Chinese fiction in the ‘transnational’ context are refreshing and should be applauded. Many of his arguments are provocative or thought-provoking, compelling us to rethink many important issues in the study of Chinese literature and particularly Chinese fiction and to confront some thorny questions, such as that of the generic nature of Chinese fiction." — Martin W. Huang, author of Negotiating Masculinities in Late Imperial China

About the Author:

Ming Dong Gu is Associate Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature and Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Texas, Dallas. He is the author of Chinese Theories of Reading and Writing: A Route to Hermeneutics and Open Poetics, also published by SUNY Press.

About this edition

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 079146816X
• ISBN 13: 9780791468166
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304