Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"What a marvelous resource for literature and world history courses! Stapleton provides invaluable insights on one of the most widely read modern Chinese novels, Ba Jin's
Family. Beautifully written,
Fact in Fiction invites students to research Chinese society and literature, and to explore how fiction shapes historical understanding. An excellent contribution!"—Roberta Martin, Columbia University
"This book is beautifully written and a real pleasure to read. It offers a useful complement to
Family that will enable readers to understand the social context and political implications of Ba Jin's work. It is also an instructive example of how to read literary sources with attention to their motivation and historical context."—Henrietta Harrison, University of Oxford
"With insightful readings and incisive research Kristin Stapleton illustrates how Ba Jin captured the emotional truth about idealistic students in the May Fourth era while over-simplifying the history. The book is a beautiful demonstration of the ways historical research can enhance our understanding of fiction, and fiction can enrich our understanding of history."—Paul S. Ropp, Clark University
"By placing Ba Jin's popular novels in the tangible urban environment in early twentieth-century Chengdu, Stapleton provides a wonderful window through which we see a cross-section of Chengdu society"—Zhao Ma,
Journal of Social HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction: Ba Jin's Fiction and Twentieth-Century Chinese History
1. Mingfeng: The Life of a Chinese Slave Girl
2. The Patriarch: Chengdu's Gentry
3. Juexin's City: The Chengdu Economy
4. Sedan-Chair Bearers, Beggars, Actors, and Prostitutes: The Worlds of the Urban Poor
5. Students, Soldiers, and Warlords: Protest and Warfare in the City
6. Qin: Chengdu and the "New Woman"
7. Juehui: Revolution, Reform, and Development in Chengdu
Epilogue: Family and City in China's Twentieth-Century Revolutions
