This paper examines the voluminous ＂poetry talks＂ （shihua） written by Southern Society （Nanshe） members and focuses on two tendencies in these discourses： The general cult of sentimentality and the narrative st...This paper examines the voluminous ＂poetry talks＂ （shihua） written by Southern Society （Nanshe） members and focuses on two tendencies in these discourses： The general cult of sentimentality and the narrative strategy on women＇s poetry. These poetic discourses succeeded the language of traditional literary criticism, but also exhibited ideals of the new epoch. As a rebellion to the qing imperial standard on measured and learned poetry, Southern Society poets took instead as their role models eccentric and iconoclastic poets who ＂venerated feelings.＂ The cult of sentimentality continued the trend of individual liberation from the late Ming and further showed a collective discourse that promoted a new kind of revolutionary subjectivity. These authors were also fond of collecting sentimental stories about female poets. More than being traditional ＂talented women,＂ these poets exhibited a diversity of female roles in an era of liberation.展开更多
This paper examines the birth of classicist poetry by paying attention to the Southern Society＇s （Nanshe） diachronic succession of the late Qing Poetic Revolution. It provides a careful analysis on the novelty of H...This paper examines the birth of classicist poetry by paying attention to the Southern Society＇s （Nanshe） diachronic succession of the late Qing Poetic Revolution. It provides a careful analysis on the novelty of Huang Zunxian＇s poetry and shows how the Southern Society transformed Huang＇s Europeanized innovation into something that was rooted in both traditional scholarship and modern political discourse. I argue that the poetry of the Southern Society as being more formally conservative than Huang＇s; however, spiritually, it represents a kind of progress as it styled itself as the ＂poetry of the cotton-clothed＂ （buy/zhi shi）--the ＂cotton- clothed＂ stands for the scholars not serving in court. In this regard, its poetry could be seen as modern in spirit. It selectively integrated the traditional and the Western, for pragmatic and utilitarian purposes.展开更多
文摘This paper examines the voluminous ＂poetry talks＂ （shihua） written by Southern Society （Nanshe） members and focuses on two tendencies in these discourses： The general cult of sentimentality and the narrative strategy on women＇s poetry. These poetic discourses succeeded the language of traditional literary criticism, but also exhibited ideals of the new epoch. As a rebellion to the qing imperial standard on measured and learned poetry, Southern Society poets took instead as their role models eccentric and iconoclastic poets who ＂venerated feelings.＂ The cult of sentimentality continued the trend of individual liberation from the late Ming and further showed a collective discourse that promoted a new kind of revolutionary subjectivity. These authors were also fond of collecting sentimental stories about female poets. More than being traditional ＂talented women,＂ these poets exhibited a diversity of female roles in an era of liberation.
文摘This paper examines the birth of classicist poetry by paying attention to the Southern Society＇s （Nanshe） diachronic succession of the late Qing Poetic Revolution. It provides a careful analysis on the novelty of Huang Zunxian＇s poetry and shows how the Southern Society transformed Huang＇s Europeanized innovation into something that was rooted in both traditional scholarship and modern political discourse. I argue that the poetry of the Southern Society as being more formally conservative than Huang＇s; however, spiritually, it represents a kind of progress as it styled itself as the ＂poetry of the cotton-clothed＂ （buy/zhi shi）--the ＂cotton- clothed＂ stands for the scholars not serving in court. In this regard, its poetry could be seen as modern in spirit. It selectively integrated the traditional and the Western, for pragmatic and utilitarian purposes.
