Chinese Middlebrow Fiction: From the Ch'ing and Early Republican Eras
Chinese Middlebrow Fiction: From the Ch'ing and Early Republican Eras
Edited by Liu Ts'un-yan
With the assistance of John Minford
1984
380 pages
ISBN 962-201-309-0
This anthology of major works of popular Chinese fiction from the mid-Ch'ing to the early Republican eras (late 19th century to early 20th century), as well as critical studies of such works, has been edited by Liu Ts'un-yan, Emeritus Professor of Chinese at the Australian National University and an acknowledged expert in the field of Chinese fiction.
In addition to Professor Liu's introduction, which succeeds in being both encyclopedic in its scope and diverting in its tone, the book contains translated extracts from several major novels, critical essays, and literary reminiscences of the period. Most of the works appear here in translation for the first time. Among the translators for this anthology are leading Sinologists and the novelist Eileen Chang.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
PREFACE
LIU TS’UN-YAN: Introduction: “Middlebrow” in Perspective — 1
P’U SUNG-LING: Marriage as Retribution Translated by Chi-chen Wang — 41
HAN PANG-CH’ING: Sing-song Girls of Shanghai Translated by Eileen Chang — 95
STEPHEN CHENG: Sing-song Girls of Shanghai and Its Narrative Methods — 111
TSENG P’U: A Flower in a Sinful Sea Translated by Rafe de Crespigny and Liu Ts’un-yan — 137
H.P. TSENG: My Father’s Literary Journey Translated by Colin Modini — 193
C.T. HSIA: Hsü Chen-ya’s Yü-li hun: An Essay in Literary History and Criticism — 199
PERRY LINK: An Interview with Pao T’ien-hsiao — 241
CHANG HEN-SHUI: Fate in Tears and Laughter Translated by Sally Borthwick — 255
LI PO-YÜAN: Modern Times or A Brief History of Enlightenment Translated by Douglas Lancashire — 289
WU WO-YAO: Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed in Two Decades Translated by Shih Shun Liu — 341
LIU TS’UN-YAN: Postscript — 364
Notes on Contributors — 368
Notes on Illustrations — 370
Review(s)
Review(s)
'Chinese Middlebrow Fiction is remarkably successful in re-creating this sentimental genre for the Western reader … [It] is required reading for anyone seriously interested in the Chinese novel.'
—World Literature Today
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EDITOR(s)
Liu Ts'un-yan (柳存仁), the editor, Professor Emeritus of Chinese at the Australian National University, has been a visiting professor at Columbia, Harvard, Hawai'i, Paris, Malaya and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. With a Ph.D. and a D.Lit. from the University of London, he is also a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. His many writings include Buddhist and Taoist Influences on Chinese Novels, Chinese Popular Fiction in Two London Libraries, Selected Papers from the Hall of Harmonious Wind and New Excursions from the Hall of Harmonious Wind.