WomenandNationalTraumainLateImperialChineseLiterature

The Ming-Qing dynastic transition in seventeenth-century China was an epochal event that had a significant impact on Qing writings and beyond. The political disorder was intertwined with a thriving literary and cultural production. Women and National Trauma in Late Imperial Chinese Literature focuses on the discursive and imaginative space controlled by women.

The book covers writings by women and men writing in a feminine voice or assuming a female identity. It also comprehends writings that involve women as a symbol through which authors convey their lamentation, nostalgia, or moral questions regarding the fallen Ming. The book delves into the mentality of those who remembered or reflected on the dynastic transition, as well as those who invented its significance in later periods. It illustrates how history and literature intersect and how conceptions of gender mediate the experience and expression of a political disorder.

By exploring the variations on themes related to gender boundaries, female virtues, vices, agency, and ethical dilemmas used to allegorize national destiny, Wai-yee Li investigates why and how they are employed. Through pursuing answers to these questions, Li explores how the multivalent presence of women in different genres provides a window into the emotional and psychological turmoil of the Ming-Qing transition and subsequent national trauma moments.

作者简介

Wai-yeeLiisProfessorofChineseLiteratureatHarvardUniversity.