1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910452798103321

Autore

Berg Daria <1964-, >

Titolo

Women and the literary world in early modern China, 1580-1700 / / Daria Berg

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York : , : Routledge, , 2013

ISBN

1-138-64350-5

0-203-11422-1

1-136-29021-4

1-136-29022-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (304 p.)

Collana

Routledge studies in the early history of Asia ; ; 8

Disciplina

895.1/099287

Soggetti

Women and literature - China

Chinese literature - 960-1644 - History and criticism

Electronic books.

China Social life and customs 960-1644

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover ; Women and the Literary World in Early Modern China, 1580-1700; Title Page ; Copyright Page ; Dedication; Table of Contents ; List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Map of the Yangzi delta (Jiangnan) region in the late imperial period (Qing dynasty, 1644-1911); The rise of literary women: an introduction; Concepts; Gentility and literary culture; The hidden sage; The historian as a messenger of souls; The publishing industry; Aims and outline; Notes; 1 Writing goddess: virgin, venerators, literary vogues; A new reading of Tanyangzi's story; The voices

Literati reactions to female literacyConclusion; Notes; 2 The child prodigy; The precocious girl; Styling the catkins poetess; What happens when the catkins poetess grows up?; Books, libraries and the child prodigy-turned-goddess; Duplicating goddesses; Reconstructing her voice; Conclusion; Notes; 3 Queen of the bordellos? The courtesan's quest; An invitation; Qinhuai revisited; Biographical reconstruction; Reconstructing Xue Susu's lost book; Recovering the courtesan's poetic voice; Through the literati's eyes; In the gentlewoman's gaze; The



artistic gaze; Conclusion; Notes

4 Miss Emotion: the drama of the new woman reader on the literary marketplacePortrait of a woman reader; The biographer's gaze; The editor's gaze; The female gaze in the literary oeuvre; Gossip, rumours or lies? The question of authenticity; Sweet words of seduction: the cult of emotions and the cult of clever women; The reader; Trading emotions: books and business; Conclusion; Notes; 5 Editing her story, rewriting hi/story: the art of female self-fashioning; The concept of self-fashioning; Editorship and the publishing industry; The gentlewoman editor; The professional woman editor

Gentlewomen critics and team editorsCourtesan editors; The courtesan collator-cum-copy editor; Male views of editorship; Perceptions of women editors: a view from fiction; Conclusion: editorial negotiations; Notes; 6 Negotiating gentility: the Banana Garden Poetry Club; A literary society for gentlewomen; The circle of poets; The Banana Garden; Simple, solitary and serene: the image of the gentlewoman scholar; The Banana Garden girls in the male gaze; Through female eyes; Women and publishing; The legacy of the Banana Garden club; Whose story is it anyway?; Conclusion; Notes; Epilogue

List of works citedSources cited by abbreviation; Other primary sources; Secondary sources; Index

Sommario/riassunto

<P>Exploring the works of key women writers within their cultural, artistic and socio-political contexts, this book considers changes in the perception of women in early modern China. The sixteenth century brought rapid developments in technology, commerce and the publishing industry that saw women emerging in new roles as both consumers and producers of culture. This book examines the place of women in the cultural elite and in society more generally, reconstructing examples of particular women's personal experiences, and retracing the changing roles of women from the late Ming to the early Q