{"product_id":"the-uses-of-literature-9780691001982","title":"The Uses of Literature","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy do people in socialist China read and write literary works? This work looks broadly at these and many other uses of literature from the points of view of authors, editors, political authorities, and several kinds of readers. It seeks to explain how the word good was used and understood when applied to literary works in such systems.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2000 \"The definitive social and intellectual history of China's early post-Mao socialist literary system ... This book doubles as the most revealing, systematic, and readable guide yet to Chinese literary institutions, thought, tastes, reader-ruler relations for the whole communist period.\"--Choice \"In his new, densely packed, and fascinating book, Professor Link has moved from describing the plight of Chinese intellectuals to an account of what books and publications the Chinese read and why...The members of the Chinese reading public are hardly known in the West. In The Uses of Literature, they are perceptively described ... Professor Link provides the best description and analysis I have read of how literary controls have been imposed during the last five decades.\"--Jonathan Mirsky, New York Review of Books \"Link is too astute to be a true believer of any literary ideology, East or West... The historical background he provides, however, will enable all critics of contemporary Chinese literature to do their work with far greater accuracy and insight.\"--Timothy C. Wong, World Literature Today \"The Uses of Literature will prove a wonderfully useful book, not only to those of us in the field, who will relish the fine detail and strong description, but to the more general audience who seeks to understand the complexities of the socialist literary system.\"--Kirk A. Denton, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii  A NOTE ON DOCUMENTATION ix  INTRODUCTION 3  CHAPTER ONE Historical Setting 13  Warming, 1976-1979 15  Cooling, 1980-1983 22  Perspectives 36  CHAPTER TWO The Mechanics of Literary Control 56  A Spectrum of Newpoints 56  What Was Controlled? 59  The Literary Control System 63  The Mechanics of Relaxation 68  The Mechanics of Tightening 81  Soviet Comparisons 97  CHAPTER THREE Writers 104  Tradition of Responsibility 104  The Modern Crisis and the Idea of a \"Path\"106  Establishing National Guidelines 108  Effects of the Anti-Rightist Campaign 110  Maoist Utopianism in Command 113  Kinds and Groups of Writers 116  The Writers' Association 118  Generational Differences 122  Livelihood 129  Dissent 138  Purposes 142  CHAPTER FOUR Media and Market 167  Distribution: Official and Public 167  Distribution: Restricted, Semiofficial, and Unofficial 183  Related Media: Stage, Film, Radio, and Television 198  CHAPTER FIVE Readers: The Popular Level 210  Readership (Audience) Groups 212  Popular Entertainment 220  CHAPTER SIX Readers: Socially Engaged Level 249  Intrusive Politics 254  Special Privilege and Abuse of Power 258  Pervasive Corruption 260  Styles of Bureaucratism 263  The Need for Rule of Law 270  The Problem of Truth 272  The Place of Romance 278  CHAPTER SEVEN The Uses of Literature 284  The Party and Its \"Engineering\" 286  Problems with Engineering 289  Retreat ftom Engineering 294  Secondary Uses of Engineering 296  The Variety of Other Uses 300  Transcending \"Uses\" 319  Use and Quality 322  SELECT GLOSSARY OF CHINESE CHARACTERS 333  BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED IN THE NOTES 339  INDEX 369","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49403666071895,"sku":"9780691001982","price":49.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-uses-of-literature-9780691001982","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}