Fin-de-Siecle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849-1911

by David Der-wei Wang

The reigning view of literary historians has been that the May Fourth movement of 1919 marks the division between the traditional and the modern in Chinese literature. This book argues that signs of reform and innovation can be discerned long before May Fourth, and that as China entered the arena of modern, international history in the late Qing, it was already developing its own complex matrix of incipient modernities. It demonstrates that late Qing fiction nurtured a creative, innovative poetics, one that was spurned by the reformers of the May Fourth generation in favor of Western-style realism. The author recognizes that a full account of modern Chinese fiction needs to ask why so many genres, styles, themes, and figures found in late imperial fiction were repressed by "modern" Chinese literary discourse. He focuses on four genres of late Qing fiction that have been either rudely dismissed in pejorative terms or simply ignored: depravity romances, court-case and chivalric cycles, grotesque exposés, and scientific fantasies. The author shows that in spite of the realist orthodoxy that has dominated Chinese literature since the May Fourth movement, these unwelcome genres have continually found their way back into mainstream discourse, their influence being increasingly evident in recent decades. This first comprehensive study of late Qing fiction discusses more than sixty works, at least half of which have rarely or never been dealt with by Western or Chinese scholars. Richly informed by contemporary literary theory, this book constitutes a polemical rethinking of the nature of Chinese literary and cultural modernity.

Genres: History, China

433 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1997

About the author

David Der-wei Wang is Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature and Comparative Literature, Harvard University, and Director of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Inter-University Center for Sinology (CCK-IUC).

Reviews

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an amazing representation of the follies of our society. It accurately shows the two sides of a person: the materialistic side and the side that is not. I loved reading about her life as the ages of fashion evolved and as she discovered new colors and smells to connect to her life in specific moments. I can't wait to read more of his works.

[Peter Xiao · Rating 4 out of 5]

王德威其书就是世纪末华丽（fin-de-siècle splendor）的症候，一人能有众声喧哗的效果。“从旧的形式中提炼新的形式，从先锋的作品里见证出传统的成分”——现代性，王德威念兹在兹，却不汲汲于定性，哪怕是复数的性，生怕自己是“心满意足地向外国观众讲讲（简化了的）第三世界政治”的假想劳航芥。王德威诘难海天独啸子，也让我忍不住诘难王：“尽管王德威对晚清现代性的热情无可非议，但他将现代性无限模糊却仍令人怀疑。”