Debating the Socialist Legacy and Capitalist Globalization in China

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction: Why Does Socialist Culture Matter Today?

   1. Introduction

      • Ban Wang, Xueping Zhong

      Pages 1-18

3. Rethinking Socialism, Literature, and Culture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

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   2. Shanghai as a Socialist City and Spatial Reproduction

      • Luo Gang, Li Yun

      Pages 21-56

   3. One Village and One Novel

      • He Jixian, Lu Taiguang

      Pages 57-71

   4. Gender Politics and the Crisis of Socialist Aesthetics

      • Mao Jian

      Pages 73-84

   5. The Crisis of Socialism and Efforts to Overcome It

      • Cai Xiang

      Pages 85-106

4. Critical Reflection on Literature and Culture since the Reform

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 107-107

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   2. Mythification of the Reform-Era History

      • Liu Fusheng

      Pages 109-122

   3. Genealogy and Ideology of the Avant-Garde Fiction

      • He Guimei

      Pages 123-136

   4. Eight Key Terms in Literary Criticism

      • Cao Zhenglu

      Pages 137-150

   5. Enjoyment: A New Experiment on Surrealist Writing

      • Li Tuo, Yan Lianke

      Pages 151-162

5. Debating the Rise of “New Left” Culture and “Subaltern Literature” in the Reform Era

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163

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   2. The Rise of “Subaltern Literature” In the Twenty-First Century

      • Li Yunlei

      Pages 165-182

   3. A Difficult Breakthrough

      • Nan Fan

      Pages 183-203

   4. Che Guevara: Notes On The Play, Its Production, and Reception

      • Huang Jisu

      Pages 205-216

6. People’s Literature and Culture: From Past to Future

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 217-217

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   2. The White-Haired Girl: Limitations and Potentials of the New Interpretation

      • He Jixian

      Pages 219-238

   3. Subjective Identity, Revolutionary Consciousness, and People’s Literature

      • Zhang Hong

      Pages 239-252

   4. People’s Literature

      • Kuang Xinnian

      Pages 253-272

The first English collection of translated essays, by Chinese literary scholars, writers, and critics, this volume focuses on the legacy of socialist culture and post-socialist phenomena within the context of capitalist globalization. By rethinking socialism, literature, and culture in relation to the intellectual and cultural trends since the start of the reform and by debating the rise of the 'new left' culture, this book seeks to offer critical voices while evoking the themes of the socialist past to bear on the 21st-century Chinese intellectual and cultural scenes.

• China
• culture
• gender
• globalization
• identity
• politics
• revolution
• socialism
• utopia

"Re-engaging socialist cultural texts, the editors and contributors all prominent intellectual figures or leading New Left thinkers from China call for a vigorous engagement with the socialist past as 'a real force of critique and contestation as well as a source of aspiration.' Rang[ing] from an analysis of literary and cultural texts produced during the socialist era to an investigation of recent New Left literature and critiques, the essays in Debating the Socialist Legacy enjoin readers to ponder the imposing and in many cases urgent challenges of rethinking socialism in the post-revolutionary age. How might key socialist concepts be redefined and reimagined in the present? For example, in the case of that crucial term, 'the people,' should it be broadened [ ] to reflect contemporary socioeconomic realities [ ] or should it be narrowed to indicate subalterns/peasants/workers in contemporary China? This is but one of the daunting but pressing issues raised by the essays in this timely and engaging volume." - Jie Liu, Professor of Chinese, University of the Pacific, USA (Modern Chinese Literature and Culture Resource Center Publication, 2015)

Cai Xiang, Shanghai University, China Cao Zhenglu, Shenzhen University, China Han Yuhai, Beijing University, China He Guimei, Beijing University, China He Jixian, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Huang Jisu, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Kuang Xinnian, Qinghua University, China Li Yunlei, Editor, Arts and Literary Theory and Criticism Li Tuo, Critic Liu Fusheng, Hainan University, China Lu Taiguang, Editor, Fiction Monthly Luo Gang, East China Normal University Mao Jian, East China Normal University Nan Fan, Fujian Academy of Social Sciences Yan Lianke, Writer Zhang Hong, Communication University of China

Policies and ethics