The Interplay of the Oral and the Written in Chinese Popular Literature

edited by Vibeke Børdahl and Margaret B. Wan

Although the interrelationship between oral (or performing) and written traditions in Chinese popular literature is an issue that concerns practically everybody who reads or teaches Chinese literature, surprisingly it has never been properly treated in a scholarly forum before. For that reason alone, this volume is especially important and deserves serious consideration from scholars and students in the field. Through subjects ranging from Ming vernacular fiction to popular prints and contemporary storytelling and folk ballads, this volume examines the interplay of oral and written traditions in China from interdisciplinary perspectives. Literary criticism, linguistic analysis, fieldwork, folklore studies, and visual sources all bring out vital perspectives on central questions, offering enquiries into new material and giving astonishing responses to old controversies.

"The subject of these essays concerns practically everybody who reads or teaches Chinese literature, but to the best of my knowledge it has not been treated before on this scale. The value of the volume is not that it answers all the questions we have but that it will act as a stimulus to new research. Patrick Hanan, Harvard University On the interrelationship between oral or performing and written popular items in traditional China, this important book is theoretically infused, with many new ideas and perspectives. Beautifully written and edited, it will add significantly to the literature, not only on Chinese performing arts, but also on its society, especially since the Song dynasty (960–1279)." - Colin Mackerras, Griffith University

Vibeke Børdahl, Ph. D., Dr. Phil., senior researcher at NIAS, has been described as one of the most accomplished scholars in the study of Chinese oral literature. As well as doing much research on the interplay of oral and written traditions in Chinese popular literature and performance culture, over the past decade she has translated the full work of Jin Ping Mei into Danish.

Margaret B. Wan is Assistant Professor of Chinese Literature in the Department of Languages and Literature, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA. She has published on Chinese fiction, the interaction of Chinese ballad texts and the novel, and local literature, including The Chantefable and the Novel: The Cases of Lü Mudan and Tianbao tu in the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (2004). Her book 'Green Peony’ and the Rise of the Chinese Martial Arts Novel (State University of New York Press, 2009) illuminates the world of popular fiction, examining a wide range of novels and ballad texts. She received a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Publication year: 2010
289 pp / 229mm x 152mm
44 figures, 36 tables
ISBN: 978-87-7694-055-3, Paperback
ISBN: 978-87-7694-054-6, Hardback

NIAS Press