Women and Gender in Modern Chinese Literature

Preparations for Research

A. Close Reading/Textual Analysis of the Works
What, in the text, interests or puzzles you?

The title, the plot, and/or the setting?
The character(s) (dialogues, actions, etc.)?
Point of view (the narrator)?
Symbolism, the recurrence of imagery and/or events?
Any stylistic or generic peculiarities of the texts?
Any feminist or anti-feminist issues, and how they are conveyed?

B. Your Interpretations of These Evidence:
How do these elements illustrate or raise questions about a problem/ issue?

C. Your Argument about the Text based on your Interpretations

1. Avoid a general argument that most readers could reach from a simple reading of the text.
2. Your statement of opinion should have such a depth that it requires further reasoning throughout the whole paper.
3. Your argument may not be completely original; but it might include some unique set of evidence and illustration as well as individual reasoning.

Sources:

Writing Center at UNC (handouts)

Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Literature. 11th ed. New York: Longman, 2009.

A Short Guide to Writing about Literature by Sylvan Barnet. (2009 11th ed.)

book cover

PART 2: Standing Back: Thinking Critically about Literature; PART 3 Up Close: Thinking Critically about Literary Forms; 10. Writing about Fiction: The World of the Story; Plot and Character; Foreshadowing; Setting and Atmosphere; Symbolism; Point of View; Theme: Vision or Argument? .... 15. Writing a Research Paper.

Course Objectives:

This course offers an overview of modern China from the perspectives of gender and women’s issues represented in literary works by modern Chinese male and female writers.

(1) Introduction to some major women-and-gender-related literary and cultural texts in modern China;

(2) Understanding the historical contexts of "these texts";

(3) Learning the basic feminist concepts and themes;

(4) Applying the concetps and methods in analysis of some of the major issues in this literature.

1. Chinese Fiction Writers (1900-1949) (DLB)

Chang, Ai-Ling , Xiao, Hong , Lu, Yin , Lu, Xun , Ling, Shuhua ,Ding, Ling

2. 20th Century American and European Cultural Theorists (DLB)

Judith Butler , Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem , Hélène Cixous, Simone de Beauvoir

3. Textbooks on Course Reserves.

4. Literary Surveys: (most in bookstacks)
Chinese Literature in the Second Half of a Modern Century: a Critical Survey. PL2303 .C42646 2000

A History Of Contemporary Chinese Literature. PL2303 .Z566613 2007

"A thorough overview and analysis of the literary scene in China during the 1949-1999 period, focusing primarily on fiction, poetry, drama, and prose writing"

Writing Women In Modern China: an Anthology Of Women's Literature From The Early Twentieth century. PL2515 .W75 1998

Writing Women In Modern China: the Revolutionary Years, 1936-1976. PL2515 .W76 2005

Herself An Author: Gender, Agency, and Writing In Late Imperial China. PL2278 .F66 2008

Writing Women in Late Imperial China. PL2264 .W72 1997

5. History and Culture

The Cambridge Companion to Modern Chinese Culture. DS775.2 .C452424 2008.

The Search for Modern China: a Documentary Collection / edited by Pei-kai Cheng and Michael Lestz with Jonathan D. Spence. DS753.86 .S33 1999

Oxford Reference Online

social, political, religous history; history of ideas; all periods.

Women's Literary Feminism in Twentieth Century China.
PL2278 .D66 2005

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This is a critical inquiry into the connections between emergent feminist ideologies in China and the production of "modern" women's writing from the demise of the last imperial dynasty to the founding of the People's Republic of China. It accentuates both well-known and under-represented literary voices from Qiu Jin and Lu Yin to Bai Wein, who intervened in the gender debates of their generation as well as contextualizes the strategies used in imagining alternative stories of female experience and potential.

The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Literary Theory. PN98.W64 C35 2006

Readings on Course Reserves.

WorldCat (catalogs of libraries worldwide)

Procedure Note:

1. Verify if Tufts Library has the book you need.

2. Use ILliad (interlibrary loan service) to request non-Tufts books.

Prev Next

Path of Discovery in the Catalogs

1. Find a title/author (assigned readings/Course Reserves);

2. Note the descriptive language of the Catalog record.

3. Use that language in further searches

e.g. Click on subject/author in the record to see further results and related topics.

Title	*Writing Women in Modern China: the Revolutionary Years, 1936-1976.*/ edited by Amy D. Dooling.
Publisher	New York: Columbia University Press, c2005.
Subject	Chinese literature -- Women authors.
	Chinese literature -- 20th century -- Translations into English. .
	Women and literature -- China.
Added Author	Dooling, Amy D.

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature / Joseph S.M. Lau and Howard Goldblatt, editors.
PL2658.E1 C64 2007

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Literary anthologies often include introductory texts that provide overviews and surveys of the literary periods. The explanatory footnotes enhance an understanding of the works in terms of contemprorary culture in which the authors lived and wrote. Hence, the historical significance of the works.

pt. 1. Fiction, 1918-1949 -- pt. 2. Fiction, 1949-1976 -- pt. 3. Fiction since 1976 -- pt. 4. Poetry, 1918-1949 -- pt. 5. Poetry, 1949-1976 -- pt. 6. Poetry since 1976 -- pt. 7. Essays, 1918-1949 -- pt. 8. Essays, 1949-1976 -- pt. 9. Essays since 1976.

Broad Subject Browse in the Catalog:

Chinese literature

Perform a Keyword Search for a broader question related to your author/literary works:

literature and feminis* and (china or chinese)

Note:

1. include "and" in between keywords;
2. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;
3. feminis* searches for all forms of the word, e.g., feminist, feminsim, etc.

Search MLA (International Bibliography of Language & Literature)

Enter your search terms:

Collection of Journals

JSTOR (with omission of the current years)
Project Muse (with current years only)

Asian Studies

Bibliography of Asian Studies

Additional Databases

Arts & Humanities Citation Index

Women's Studies International

Click on the number to pause the slide.

Some Database Characteristics

Each Database is selective

Subject Matter—disciplinary perspective, period, geographical region, and more;
Scope —types, number, and years of publications covered
Depth (of indexing) —citation, ciabstracts, full texts, which determines their search capabilities.

Strategy in Selecting a Database

First, run a relatively broad search in them to assess their relevance on a topic;
Next, try out a variety of keyword, subject, and author searches in a chosen database.
Last, use newly learned ideas and words in other databases.

About JSTOR and Project Muse

1. The collections include journals from all displines— literary studies, Asian studies and others;

2. JStor are likely to include seminal works on a subject, which are highly original and influential, and central to the development or understanding of a subject.

3. Must check for up-to-date information from other sources when using JSTOR.

Click to browse some journals here:

Range of Keywords—Scope of a Research Question

1. Start with a general search with simply the author's name, or title of the novel.

2. Examine the general search results to discover possible focuses on some typical elements; evidences you have collected in your reading of the text and you will use to support your thesis of the paper.

1. imagery or themes;
2. characters/characterization;
3. the plot, events, actions;
4. the settings
5. literary devices, e.g. points of view;
6. and more.

Evaluation of Search Results:

In what types of journals and publications (besides literary studies) did you find relevant work? What does this suggest about research on your topic?

What sorts of audiences seem to be addressed in works on your topic? How can you tell?

What aspects of the search results surprised you? Why? Did “peripheral materials” lead you anywhere? How?

Based on your search, how would you characterize the main approaches to your topic? What do you think are some of the central debates in the study of your topic? What is your evidence for thinking so?

Review of Recent Books

Reviews of recent books on a subject are likely to summarize the current state of research in an area;

A sample search in Project Muse for Book Reviews :

(china or chinese) and literature and (women or gender or feminis*)

screen capture

Note:

1. include "and" in between keywords;

2. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;

3. feminis* searches for all forms of the word, feminist, feminism, etc.

Read a Couple of Articles Carefully and Identify:

the "problem" addressed (the thesis of the article);

the central debates on this problem;

the major arguments by the author;

the methods applied in making these arguments;

the evidence (e.g., language, imagery, narrative forms, original documents, or secondary sources);

if the conclusions are based on speculations, are they convincing?

Throughout your reading:

Compare and contrast methods by authors: key points of difference or convergence

Note controversies and weaknesses; explain and clarify gaps

How about the presentation, logic and clarity of the article?

State your own positions; provide your own interpretations and critiques

Finding Full Texts

1. Click on the button to these three options:

a. link to the full text of the article when available digitally;

b. link to a Library Catalog search for the journal in print that contains your article.

c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:

a.Tufts Library Catalog (including e-journals)
b. Electronic journals list
c. Use ILliad to request your article, if Tufts does not have your journal.

Current (United States and International)

LexisNexis Academic (Foreign Language Sources)
Factiva

Ethnic, Alternative and Independent Press

Historical

Time Magazine (1923-Present)
New York Times Online Archive
(1851 - 3 years before current date)

Times Digital Archive (1785 - 1985)

(Factiva covers sources in 22 languages from over 150 countries and 350 geographic regions.)

MLA style rules and examples
Chicago/Turabian style rules and examples

Citation Management Tool: RefWorks

1. Store your records of books, articles, etc.
2. Generate a bibliography in the style of your choice.
3. Format in-text notes/footnotes while you write.

Learn how to use RefWorks

last updated: 24/07/09