This book engages with the critical decline of postmodernism and newer currents of thinking that have come to the fore, including postcolonialism, feminism, and cultural studies, constituting an exploration of the cultural landscape after the heyday of postmodernism in the West and its profound influence on the Chinese cultural scene.
Topics discussed include the prevalent theoretical trends and cultural phenomena in the West in the wake of postmodernism, how these developments have influenced contemporary Chinese literary and cultural criticism, and how Chinese scholars can have an equal dialogue with the dominant Western theorists. The chapters examine critical issues and figures in the fields, including postmodernity and globalization, as well as the theories of Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Judith Butler. Taking a comparative and cross-cultural perspective, especially between China and the West, the title also sheds light on the imprint of Western theoretical trends on the literature and culture of contemporary China, exemplified in diasporic writing, cinema, women’s literature, popular culture, and the overall orientation of contemporary Chinese literature.
The book will be a critical reference for all levels of reader interested in postmodernism, critical theory, postcolonialism, feminism, cultural studies, comparative and world literature, and contemporary Chinese literature and culture.
Author(s): Wang Ning
Series: China Perspectives
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 272
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface
Part I Beyond Postmodernism
1 Postmodernity and Globalization
Postmodernism: From a Western-Centric Discourse to a Glocalized Discourse
The Rise of Popular Culture as a Glocalized Deconstructive Discourse
Reconstructing the Discourse of Globalization: A Chinese Perspective
Glocalizing Postcolonialism: Toward a Reconstruction of the Neo-Confucianist Discourse
Notes
2 Globalization as Glocalization in China
Globalization and Glocalization: The West and China
Reconstructing Globalization: A Marxist Perspective
Globalization as a Means of Global Economic Operation
Globalization as a Historical Process
Globalization as a Process of Financial Marketization and Political Democratization
Globalization as a Critical Concept
Globalization as a Narrative Category
Globalization as a Cultural Construction
Globalization as a Theoretical Discourse
Consumer Culture and Its Study in China
“De-Third-Worldizing” China in the Process of Globalization
Notes
3 Theories and Cultural Trends After Postmodernism
The Rise of Postcolonialism and the “Centralizing” Attempt
Feminism and Its Plural Orientations
Feminist Sexual Politics
Marxist Feminism
Anti-Feminist Feminism
Female Writing and Female Criticism
French Feminist Theory
Lesbian Studies and Its Theory
Confronting the Impact of Cultural Studies
Diaspora Writing and Rewriting of Literary History
Globalization and the Theoretical Construction of Culture
Ecocriticism and the Construction of an Environmental Ethics
A New Topic in Gender Studies: Lesbian and Queer Studies
The Death and Rebirth of Comparative Literature
The Advent of the Era of Iconography and the Iconographic Turn in Literary Criticism
Notes
Part II Postcolonialism Reconsidered
4 Diasporic Writing and the Reconstruction of Chinese National and Cultural Identity or Identities
Diaspora as a Consequence of Globalization
Toward a Transnational (Re) Construction of Chinese Identit(ies)
Farewell to Postcoloniality?
Notes
5 Edward Said: Orientalism and the Critique of Cultural Hegemonism
The Ideological Connotation of “Orientalism”
A Historical Reflection On “Orientalism” in the West
The Illumination of Orientalism to Us
A Critique of Imperialism and Cultural Hegemony
Tentative Conclusions and Countermeasures
Notes
6 Gayatri Spivak: Postcolonial Intellectual and Third World Criticism
An Outstanding Interpreter of Deconstructive Theory in North America
An Advocate of Feminism and Women’s Marginal Discourse
Postcolonial Theory and Third World Criticism
Critical Summary
Notes
7 Homi Bhabha: Narration, Cultural Location, and Identity
Nation and the Hybridity of Narration
Cultural Difference, Diversity, and Location
Towards a Process of Minoritization
Notes
8 Chinese Cinema Challenged By Postcoloniality and Globalization
“Glocalizing” Contemporary Cultural and the Film Industry
Cultural Reflections On Chinese Cinema in the Period of Reform
“Globalizing” Chinese Cinema in the 21st Century
Notes
Part III Feminist Theory and Literature
9 New Orientations of Feminist Theory
The Emergence and Development of Feminism in the West
Feminism and Theoretical Issues of Contemporary Critical Theories
Sexual Politics
Marxist Feminism
Anti-Feminist Feminism
Female Writing and Female Criticism
French Psychoanalytic Feminist Theory
Lesbian Studies and Theories
Critical Summary
Notes
10 Gender Studies in the Post-Theoretical Era
The Coming of the “Post-Theoretical Era”?
Gender Theory as Used to Interpret Current Chinese Phenomena
Tentative Conclusion: A Critique of Poststructuralist Gender Theory
Notes
11 The Feminist Sense in Contemporary Chinese Female Literature
Feminism and Its Recent Orientations Reconsidered
Seeking Self-Identity: Chinese Avant-Garde Female Writings
Moving Out of the Binary Opposition: Return to the Female Sense
Notes
Part IV Cultural Studies
12 Cultural Studies: Mainstream Intellectual Trends in the West
Cultural Studies Past and Present
The Theoretical Issues of Cultural Studies
What Can Literary Studies Learn From Cultural Studies?
Notes
13 Cultural Studies and the Future of Comparative Literature
The Rise of Cultural Studies as a Challenge to Comparative Literature
Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature Studies: Opposition Or Dialogue?
Toward an Age of World Literature: The Future of Comparative Literature
Notes
14 Cultural Studies and Canonical Literature Studies
The Challenges of Canonical Literature Studies
The Rise of Cultural Studies and the Fission of Literary Canons
An Elegy for the Canon?
Notes
15 Postmodernity of Contemporary Chinese Popular Culture
Confronting the Rise of Popular Culture
A Dialectical Analysis of the “Wang Shuo Phenomenon”
The Fate of Literature in the New Century
Notes
16 The Characteristics of Schizophrenia in Contemporary Chinese Literature
Understanding Deleuze in the Chinese Context
A Changing Dominant Paradigm: From Psychoanalysis to Schizoanalysis
A Deleuzian Approach to Chinese Avant-Garde Writing
Notes
Bibliography
Index
