Jessica Yeung
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099210
- eISBN:
- 9789882207042
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099210.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This study of the entire written works of Gao Xingjian, China's first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, analyses each group of his writing and argues for a reading of Gao's writing as a ...
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This study of the entire written works of Gao Xingjian, China's first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, analyses each group of his writing and argues for a reading of Gao's writing as a phenomenon of “cultural translation”—his adoption of modernism in the 1980s is a translation of the European literary paradigm, and his attempt at postmodernist writing in the 1990s and 2000s is the effect of an exilic nihilism expressive of a diasporic subjectivity struggling to translate himself into his host culture. This book looks at Gao's works from a double perspective—in terms of their relevance both to China and to the West. Avoiding the common polarized approaches to Gao's works, this book's dual approach means that it neither extols them as the most brilliant works of contemporary Chinese literature eligible for elevation to the metaphysical level, nor dismisses them as nothing more than elitist and misogynist mediocre writings; rather the book sees this important body of work in a more nuanced way.Less
This study of the entire written works of Gao Xingjian, China's first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, analyses each group of his writing and argues for a reading of Gao's writing as a phenomenon of “cultural translation”—his adoption of modernism in the 1980s is a translation of the European literary paradigm, and his attempt at postmodernist writing in the 1990s and 2000s is the effect of an exilic nihilism expressive of a diasporic subjectivity struggling to translate himself into his host culture. This book looks at Gao's works from a double perspective—in terms of their relevance both to China and to the West. Avoiding the common polarized approaches to Gao's works, this book's dual approach means that it neither extols them as the most brilliant works of contemporary Chinese literature eligible for elevation to the metaphysical level, nor dismisses them as nothing more than elitist and misogynist mediocre writings; rather the book sees this important body of work in a more nuanced way.
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853238362
- eISBN:
- 9781846313387
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238362.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter examines the changes in the aesthetic principles in Juan Goytisolo's novels after Makbara. It analyses some of Goytisolo's major works of the 1980s and1990s, including Las virtudes del ...
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This chapter examines the changes in the aesthetic principles in Juan Goytisolo's novels after Makbara. It analyses some of Goytisolo's major works of the 1980s and1990s, including Las virtudes del pájaro solitario, La cuarentena, and Las semanas del jardín. The analysis indicates that while Goytisolo incorporate new elements, the fundamental concerns remain the same because they are already established points of moral and aesthetic principle at this stage. This chapter also highlights the two broad characteristics of Goytisolo's 1980s and 1990s novels: a pronounced development of the postmodernist nature of the writing and an equally noticeable spiritual turn.Less
This chapter examines the changes in the aesthetic principles in Juan Goytisolo's novels after Makbara. It analyses some of Goytisolo's major works of the 1980s and1990s, including Las virtudes del pájaro solitario, La cuarentena, and Las semanas del jardín. The analysis indicates that while Goytisolo incorporate new elements, the fundamental concerns remain the same because they are already established points of moral and aesthetic principle at this stage. This chapter also highlights the two broad characteristics of Goytisolo's 1980s and 1990s novels: a pronounced development of the postmodernist nature of the writing and an equally noticeable spiritual turn.
