The Monster That Is History: History, Violence, and Fictional Writing in Twentieth-Century China

In ancient China a monster called Taowu was known for both its vicious nature and its power to see the past and the future. Over the centuries Taowu underwent many incarnations until it became identifiable with history itself. Since the seventeenth century, fictive accounts of history have accommodated themselves to the monstrous nature of Taowu. Moving effortlessly across the entire twentieth—century literary landscape, David Der—wei Wang delineates the many meanings of Chinese violence an...