Chlo?« Starr's book offers a comprehensive literary reading of six nineteenth-century Chinese red-light novels and assesses how and why they alter our view of late Qing fiction and the authorial self.
Author(s): Chloe F. Starr.
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 294
Contents
......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Preface......Page 14
1.1 The Literary Context......Page 28
1.2 Classifying the Late Qing: Literary Periods and Divisions......Page 30
1.2.1 Defining the Late Qing......Page 32
1.2.2 Old, New and Modern......Page 37
1.3 Raising Fiction......Page 42
1.4 The 'Courtesan Novel' and its Reading History......Page 45
1.4.1 Editions and Texts: The Modern 'Courtesan Novel'......Page 50
1.5 Literary Ancestry: A Brief Survey......Page 54
1.5.1 Love and Warnings: Lessons from Ming Short Stories......Page 56
1.5.2 Narrating the Perfect Woman: Caizi jiaren novellas......Page 67
1.5.3 Textual Origins and Gendered Desire: Honglou meng......Page 74
1.6 The Textual Context......Page 80
1.6.1 Textual Meaning......Page 82
1.6.2 Scholars and Texts in a Post-kaozheng Era......Page 84
1.6.3 Technological Advances......Page 86
1.7 Adverts and Bans......Page 91
1.8 Rights to the Text: Authors and Authority......Page 93
2.1 Introducing Narrator and Text......Page 102
2.2 Figuring the Narrator......Page 117
2.3 Narrator, Text and Transmission: Mirrors and Frames......Page 125
2.3.1 Frames......Page 127
2.4 The Central Story and the Fiction of Unmediated Transmission......Page 133
2.5 Narratorial Contradictions and Resolutions......Page 138
2.6 The Effects of Edition......Page 145
2.7 Conclusions......Page 148
3.1 Reading Red-light Characters: Textured and Gendered Relationships......Page 155
3.2 The Essential Male: Qinglou meng......Page 161
3.2.1 Text......Page 162
3.2.2 Qing......Page 170
3.2.3 Honglou meng......Page 173
3.2.4 Female Roles......Page 174
3.3 The Group Male: Fengyue meng......Page 179
3.3.1 Narrated Character......Page 181
3.3.2 Group Characterisation......Page 186
3.3.3 Bilateral Relations: Purchase and Betrayal......Page 191
3.3.4 Suicidal Loyalty......Page 197
3.4 Conversational Drama: Haishang hua liezhuan......Page 203
3.4.1 Stock Characters......Page 204
3.4.2 Jealousy......Page 208
3.4.3 Gendered Viewpoints......Page 211
3.5 Reading Character......Page 214
3.6 Conclusions......Page 220
4.1 Narrative Structures and the Nineteenth-Century Novel......Page 226
4.1.1 Narrative Drama: The Red-light Novel as Textual Soap-Opera......Page 230
4.1.2 Poetry......Page 239
4.1.3 Drinking Games......Page 246
4.1.4 Macro-Structure: End Frames, Disjunctures, and the Supernatural......Page 250
4.1.5 Romantic/Realist Distinctions......Page 255
4.2 The Text in the World......Page 258
4.2.1 New Printing Technologies and Novel Serialisation......Page 263
4.2.2 Serial and Narrative......Page 269
4.2.3 Text and Image......Page 275
4.3 Subsequent Editions: Red-light Fiction Re-made......Page 280
4.3.1 Modern Editions and the Place of the Author......Page 283
4.3.2 Removing the Prefaces: A Case Study......Page 284
4.3.3 Modern Editorial Approaches......Page 290
4.3.4 Serial Editions......Page 293
4.4 Conclusions......Page 295
Bibliography......Page 302
Index......Page 314
