The Lure of the Modern: Writing Modernism in Semicolonial China, 1917-1937

by Shu-mei Shih

Shu-mei Shih's study is the first book in English to offer a comprehensive account of Chinese literary modernism from Republican China. In The Lure of the Modern, Shih argues for the contextualization of Chinese modernism in the semicolonial cultural and political formation of the time. Engaging critically with theories of modernism, postcoloniality, and global and local cultural studies, Shih analyzes pivotal issues―such as psychoanalysis, decadence, Orientalism, Occidentalism, semicolonial subjectivity, cosmopolitanism, and urbanism―that were mediated by Japanese as well as Western modernisms.

Genres: China

462 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 2001

Reviews

[C.L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried out of boredom...literally. However, the literary analysis is fascinating.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring. Difficult to get through. Well argued and evinced. No problems with the scholarship. Just not a very enjoyable read.