This book studies the formation of the male-constructed conventional voice of women in Chinese literature from the 3rd to 6th century.
It highlights specific moments during which the feminine voice became recognized, accepted, and stabilized, including the shift of focus from the performative to the textual in female representations; the formation of a male literary community; the popularity of romanticized historical narratives; and the emerging sense of literary history.
This study emphasizes the historicity of the feminine voice and strives to question and challenge established notions about textual stability, authorship, the literary canon, and literary history.
Qiulei Hu, Ph.D. (2011), Harvard University, is adjunct professor at the City University of New York. Her publications include ââFollowing the Troops, Carrying Alone Our Brushesâ: Jianâan (196â220AD) Fu and Shi Written for Military Campaignsâ in Asia Major (2020) and âThe Power of Nostalgia: Memory, Identity and Power in the Shishuo xinyuâ in Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture (2022).
Students of pre-modern China, especially those with interests in gender, womenâs writing, and the formation of the literary canon; students of gender studies, textual criticism, and literary history in general.