The Routledge Companion to Shen Congwen

Description

This volume is about studies of Shen Congwen (1902–1988), one of the most important writers in modern China, but more importantly, it is about how Shen Congwen has been received in and beyond Mainland China. By presenting the best literary criticism on Shen Congwen in Mainland China over the past 80 years, and views of how Shen Congwen has been understood, interpreted, and appreciated in Japan, the US, and Europe, the editors propose a new way to approach the topics of canonic writers, modern Chinese literature, and world literature. This is itself a translated project. Its Chinese edition appeared in May 2017. The bilingual rendering of the best criticism of Shen Congwen from a global perspective intends to initiate and advance dialogues between Chinese- and English- language scholarly communities. We strive to explore the complexities of “worldwide” images and interpretations of Shen Congwen. By calling attention to the foreign spaces into which overseas Shen Congwens and modern Chinese literature are reborn as world literature, we acknowledge and celebrate the study of Shen Congwen and modern Chinese literature as ongoing and endless cross-cultural dialogues and manifestations. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Copyright CONTENTS Foreword Abbreviations PART I Biography 1 A short biography of Shen Congwen PART II Survey of research on Shen Congwen 2 The study of Shen Congwen in China 3 The study of Shen Congwen in Japan 4 American Shen Congwens: a search for translators 5 The translation and reception of Shen Congwen in France and elsewhere in Europe PART III Research on Shen Congwen in China 6 Border Town and “Portrait of Eight Steeds” 7 The loneliness of Shen Congwen 8 Looking at Shen Congwen from the perspective of cultures in confrontation: Miao and Han; Chinese and Western 9 Shen Congwen and Chu culture 10 Temporal form in Shen Congwen’s fiction 11 Code words for communications media in Long River: Shen Congwen’s imaginaries of the nation and of the modern 12 From enlightenment to the folk: Border Town 13 Shen Congwen and 20th century China PART IV Research on Shen Congwen outside of China 14 Comparative research on the work of Shen Congwen and Nakagami Kenji 15 “Dreams” and “Reality” in Shen Congwen’s wartime works: with special focus on “Dreams and Reality” (1940), “Plucking Stars” (1943), and “Gazing at Rainbows” (1943) 16 How Shen Congwen became a “believer in music”: wandering among sensory descriptions in Nightmares of Seven Colors 17 English translations of Shen Congwen’s masterwork, Bian cheng (Border Town) 18 Freud in Hunan: translating Shen Congwen’s “Xiaoxiao” 19 The transformations of work and life: on Shen Congwen’s texts of self-explication 20 Shen Congwen’s literary thought and the development of Chinese modern literature Works cited and major references Index