Description
Book SynopsisIn this groundbreaking study, Maram Epstein identifies filial piety as the dominant expression of love in Qing dynasty texts. By decentering romantic feeling as the dominant expression of love during the High Qing, Orthodox Passions calls for a new understanding of the affective landscape of late imperial China.
Trade ReviewOrthodox Passions is not a mere must-read for scholars who are interested in emotion and family relations in Qing literature. It is a book ‘foundational,’ to borrow Epstein’s evaluation of filial piety in premodern China, to new scholarship that restores intergenerational relationships to the center of scholarly treatment of an empire that claimed itself as ‘ruling all under Heaven by filial piety’. -- Yue Du * China Review International *
Though focused on the high Qing, it serves as a masterful rendition of an entire tradition…Epstein has executed a radically novel and engaging approach that should spur us and our students to new and deeper realizations. -- Keith McMahon * Journal of Chinese Studies *
A pioneering study of filial piety…Epstein argues, linguistically and culturally, romantic love had its European discourse; in contrast, filial piety or filial love was the primary emotional bond in traditional China, which was critical to people’s identity formation…It further advocates a new way of rereading the eighteenth-century texts by decentering romantic feeling as the dominant expression of love during the High Qing, and calls for a new understanding of the affective landscape of late imperial China. -- Guotong Li * Chinese Historical Studies *
