| The Sword or the Needle: The Female Knight-Errant (Xia) in Traditional Chinese Narrative Contributor(s): Schweizerische Asiengesellschaft (Editor), Altenburger, Roland (Author) |
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ISBN: 3034300360 ISBN-13: 9783034300360 Publisher: Peter Lang Group Ag, International Academic P OUR PRICE: $93.81 Product Type: Hardcover Published: December 2009 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Foreign Language Study | Miscellaneous - Social Science | Women's Studies - Literary Criticism | Asian - General |
| Dewey: 895.109 |
| LCCN: 2009028075 |
| Series: Welten Ostasiens / Worlds of East Asia / Mondes de l'Extrême |
| Physical Information: 430 pages |
| Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Cultural Region - Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This study focussing on narratives about female knights-errant (n xia) cuts along a thematic line in Chinese literary history, and thus seeks to contribute to understanding and appreciation mainly in three fields of inquiry: the formation of narrative subgenre; the literary representation of gender; and the particularities of the Chinese knight-errantry narrative. It traces the processes of textual collecting, editing, rewriting, and intertextual referencing by which narratives about female knights-errant were invented as, and forged into, a thematic sub-genre. The narratives about a character type who boldly transgresses gender boundaries are studied as an exemplary case for a general inquiry into the subversive significance of images of gender-bending strong female characters in the Chinese narrative tradition. Finally, the present study investigates into representations of the practice of Chinese knight-errantry, which includes assassination for social policing, private vengeance, and banditry. |