Description
Book SynopsisScholar-officials of late medieval China were not only enthusiastic in amateur storytelling, but also showed unprecedented interest in recording stories on different aspects of literati life. These stories appeared in diverse forms, including narrative poems, tales of the marvelous, records of the strange, historical miscellanies, and transformation texts. Through storytelling, literati explored their own changing place in a society that was making its final transition from hereditary aristocracy to a meritocracy ostensibly open to all. Literati Storytelling shows how these writings offer crucial insights into the reconfiguration of the Chinese elite, which monopolized literacy, social prestige, and political participation in imperial China.
Trade Review"Scholars of the Tang dynasty and of Chinese narrative should certainly consult this book. Luo’s ambitious range of sources and her creativity as a reader allow her to make some new, insightful arguments about the relationship between narratives and the dominant cultural interests of late medieval literati."
-- Anna M. Shields * Journal of Asian Studies *
"[An] original and insightful new study of late Tang narratives. . . . Literati Storytelling takes an innovative, hybrid approach to this vast and heterogeneous corpus. . . . Literati Storytelling produces important new interpretations that stress the limits of subversion in Tang romance."
-- Gregory Patterson * Journal of the American Oriental Society *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Note to Readers
Chronology
Introduction
1. Sovereignty: The Case of the Illustrious Emperor
2. Literati Sociality: Remembering Individuals and Community in Historical Miscellanies
3. Sexuality: Women, Literati, and Nonmarital Bonds
4. Cosmic Mobility: The Possibility and Impossibility of Moving Beyond
Conclusion: The Power and Legacies of Late Medieval Literati Storytelling
Chinese Character Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
