A history of East Asia

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Lydia H. Liu

This study - bridging contemporary theory, Chinese history, comparative literature, and culture studies - analyzes the historical interactions among China, Japan, and the West in terms of "translingual practice." By this term, the author refers to the process by which new words, meanings, discourses, and modes of representation arose, circulated, and acquired legitimacy in early modern China as it contacted/collided with European/Japanese languages and literatures. In reexamining the rise of modern Chinese literature in this context, the book asks three central questions: How did "modernity" and "the West" become legitimized in May Fourth literary discourse? What happened to native agency in this complex process of legitimation? How did the Chinese national culture imagine and interpret its own moment of unfolding? . After the first chapter, which deals with the theoretical issues, ensuing chapters treat particular instances of translingual practice such as national character, individualism, stylistic innovations, first-person narration, and canon formation.

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Rhys Isaac

In this Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Rhys Isaac describes and analyzes the dramatic confrontations-primarily religious and political-that transformed Virginia in the second half of the eighteenth century. Making use of the observational techniques of the cultural anthropologist, Isaac vividly recreates and painstakingly dissects a society in the turmoil of profound inner change.

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Corinne Debaine-Francfort

An examination of the latest discoveries in the archaeology of Ancient China, including: the early Neolithic painted pottery; the Shang bronzes; the bronze bells of the Marquis Yi of Zeng; the terracotta army of Qin Shi Huangdi; and the lavish tomb of the Marquis of Dai from the Han dynasty.

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Alberto Angela

"Through lively and detailed vignettes all based on historical documents and archaeological finds, [this work] travels back in time and shows us a world that was perhaps not very different from our own, and in so doing reinforces its relevance for a new generation of readers."--Front jacket flap.