MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 03765cam a2200553 i 4500
001 15503391
005 20210616125816.0
008 201110t20212021mau b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2020050237
035 $a(OCoLC)on1198019640
040 $aDLC$beng$erda$cDLC$dOCLCF$dOCLCO$dBDX$dOCLCQ$dTOH$dOCLCO$dUKMGB$dYDX$dOCLCO
015 $aGBC146039$2bnb
016 7 $a020140092$2Uk
020 $a9780674251182$qhardcover ;$qacid-free paper
020 $a0674251180$qhardcover ;$qacid-free paper
035 $a(OCoLC)1198019640
042 $apcc
050 00 $aPL2405$b.D47 2021
082 00 $a895.14/4609$223
049 $aZCUA
100 1 $aDes Forges, Alexander Townsend,$d1970-$eauthor.
245 10 $aTesting the literary :$bprose and the aesthetic in early modern China /$cAlexander Des Forges.
264 1 $aCambridge, Massachusetts :$bHarvard University Asia Center,$c2021.
264 4 $c©2021
300 $axi, 293 pages :$billustrations ;$c24 cm.
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$bnc$2rdacarrier
490 1 $aHarvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ;$v125
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520 $a"The civil service examination essay-known as shiwen (modern or contemporary prose) or bagu wen (eight-legged essay) for its complex structure-was the most widely read and written literary genre in early modern China (1450-1850). As the primary mode of expression in which educated individuals were schooled, shiwen epitomized the literary enterprise even beyond the walls of the examination compound. But shiwen suffered condemnation in the shift in discourse on literary writing that followed the fall of the Ming dynasty, and were thoroughly rejected in the May Fourth iconoclasm of the early twentieth century. Challenging conventional disregard for the genre, Alexander Des Forges reads the examination essay from a literary perspective, showing how shiwen redefined prose aesthetics and transformed the work of writing. A new approach to subjectivity took shape: the question "who is speaking?" resonated through the essays' involuted prose style, foregrounding issues of agency and control. At the same time, the anonymity of the bureaucratic evaluation process highlighted originality as a literary value. Finally, an emphasis on questions of form marked the aesthetic as a key arena for contestation of authority as candidates, examiners, and critics joined to form a dominant social class of literary producers"--$cProvided by publisher.
650 0 $aChinese examination essays$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aChinese essays$yMing dynasty, 1368-1644$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aChinese essays$yQing dynasty, 1644-1912$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aChinese prose literature$yMing dynasty, 1368-1644$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aChinese prose literature$yQing dynasty, 1644-1912$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aAesthetics in literature.
650 7 $aLANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aAesthetics in literature.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00798734
650 7 $aChinese essays.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00857348
650 7 $aChinese essays$xMing dynasty.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01906856
650 7 $aChinese examination essays.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00857360
650 7 $aChinese prose literature.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00857709
650 7 $aChinese prose literature$xMing dynasty.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01906872
650 7 $aQing Dynasty (China)$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01696773
648 7 $a1368-1912$2fast
655 7 $aCriticism, interpretation, etc.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01411635
830 0 $aHarvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ;$v125.
852 00 $beal$hPL2405$i.D47 2021