Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"In this broadly researched, ambitiously structured book, Judge presents a cross-section of the writings appearing at the turn of the 20th century that addressed the so-called 'women's question' in China. Rather than using such jaded terms as "tradition" and "modern," she ingeniously divides these writings into what she calls 'four chronotypes'...These chronotypes, which bridge history with literary theory, have enable Judge to demonstrate a complex and multifarious scene of sociocultural change at a critical juncture in Chinese history." --
CHOICE"Judge's study of the 'woman question' does justice to its dynamism, complexity and transitional character. She has established a new benchmark in historical studies of the very late Qing." -- Antonia Finnane *
China Quarterly *
"Joan Judge's
The Precious Raft of History does exactly what a raft is supposed to do. It rescues history, in this case the history of Chinese women in the late Qing dynasty, from the dismissive condescension of revolutionaries and scholars alike. With impressive erudition, Judge gives us genuinely new material and themes to think about. This is original, careful, exciting work." -- Gail Hershatter * University of California, Santa Cruz *
"This fascinating new book strips away scholarly illusions about ruptures in China's nineteenth and early-twentieth century history, and reveals how new roles for women have deep roots in a dense textual and cultural past. The illustrations are nothing short of fabulous." -- Susan Mann, University of California * Davis *
Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations xxx Acknowledgments xxx Introduction: Women and Temporality 1 Part One The Regime of Feminine Virtue 000 1. Chaste Women: Sacred, Praiseworthy, or Misguided 000 2. Public Women: Licentious or Evolved 000 Part Two History, Nation, and Female Talent 000 3. Women of Talent: Valorized and Repudiated 000 4. Wise Mothers and Mothers of Citizens 000 Part Three New Global Hierarchies of Female Heroism 000 5. The Chinese Woman Warrior and the Western Heroine 000 6. The New-Style Heroine and the Paradoxes of Feminine Time 000 Conclusion: From the Turn of the Twentieth Century to the Turn of the Twenty-First 000 Glossary and Character List 000 Abbreviations 000 Notes 000 Bibliography 000
