The Chinese ideogram "chi" is far richer in connotation than the
equivalent English verb "to eat." "Chi "can also be read as "the
mouth that begs for food and words." A concept manifest in the
twentieth-century Chinese political reality of revolution and
massacre, "chi" suggests a narrative of desire that moves from lack
to satiation and back again. In China such fundamental acts as
eating or refusing to eat can carry enormous symbolic weight. This
book examines the twentieth-century Chinese political experience as
it is represented in literature through hunger, cooking, eating,
and cannibalizing. At the core of Gang Yue's argument lies the
premise that the discourse surrounding the most universal of basic
human acts--eating--is a culturally specific one.
Yue's discussion begins with a brief look at ancient Chinese
alimentary writing and then moves on to its main concern: the
exploration and textual analysis of themes of eating in modern
Chinese literature from the May Fourth period through the
post-Tiananmen era. The broad historical scope of this volume
illustrates how widely applicable eating-related metaphors can be.
For instance, Yue shows how cannibalism symbolizes old China under
European colonization in the writing of Lu Xun. In Mo Yan's 1992
novel "Liquorland," however, cannibalism becomes the symbol of
overindulgent consumerism. Yue considers other writers as well,
such as Shen Congwen, Wang Ruowang, Lu Wenfu, Zhang Zianliang, Ah
Cheng, Zheng Yi, and Liu Zhenyun. A special section devoted to
women writers includes a chapter on Xiao Hong, Wang Anyi, and Li
Ang, and another on the Chinese-American women writers Jade Snow
Wong, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Amy Tan. Throughout, the author
compares and contrasts the work of these writers with similarly
themed Western literature, weaving a personal and political
semiotics of eating.
"The Mouth That Begs"will interest sinologists, literary critics,
anthropologists, cultural studies scholars, and everyone curious
about the semiotics of food.
General
Imprint: |
Duke University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Post-Contemporary Interventions |
Release date: |
July 1999 |
First published: |
July 1999 |
Authors: |
Gang Yue
|
Dimensions: |
158 x 229 x 36mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
464 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8223-2341-9 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8223-2341-9 |
Barcode: |
9780822323419 |
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