Queer Literature in the Sinosphere

by Yahia Zhengtang Ma (Editor), Hongwei Bao (Editor), Jamie J. Zhao (Editor)

Overview

Queer Literature in the Sinosphere is the most up-to-date English-language study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) themed literature and culture in the Chinese-speaking world. From classical homoerotic texts to contemporary boys' love fan fiction, this book showcases the richness and diversity of queer Chinese literature across the full spectrum of genres, styles, topics and cultural politics. The book features authors and literary works from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the global Chinese diaspora. Featuring chapters by leading scholars from around the world, this book rewrites literature, history and culture from a queer lens in China and globally.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350415331
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/14/2024
Series:	Queering China: Transnational Genders and Sexualities
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Dr Hongwei Bao is an Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he also directs the Centre for Contemporary East Asian Cultural Studies. He is also a research associate of the Birmingham School of Art.

Yahia Ma is a PhD candidate in the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His research focuses on queer translation studies and queer Chinese literature. Yahia's English translation of Ta-Wei Chi's novella 嚎叫 (Howl) was published in Queer Taiwanese Literature: A Reader (2021). His critical work can be found in the American Journal of Chinese Studies, Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, Melbourne Asia Review, Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, and TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly.

Dr Hongwei Bao is an Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he also directs the Centre for Contemporary East Asian Cultural Studies. He is also a research associate of the Birmingham School of Art.

Jamie J. Zhao is Assistant Professor in Media and Cultural Studies in the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong, HKSAR.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Queer Literature in the Sinosphere (Hongwei Bao and Yahia Ma)

PART I. TRANS FORMATION
1.Becoming Trans and Already Trans: The Temporality of Trans-Femininity in Late Imperial Chinese Homoerotic Literature (Aixia Huang)
2.'An Ideal Woman': Cross-Dressing and Male Homoerotic Desire in Modern Chinese Literature (Dylan K. Wang)
3.Translating the Life of Jin Xing as a Transgender Woman (Yahia Ma)

PART II. QUEER WOMEN'S SPACES
4.Female Same-Sex Love in the Chinese Enlightenment: Lesbian Fiction by Three Women Writers, 1923-1928 (Yixin Liu)
5.Obscure Utopia: Lesbian Continuum in Wang Anyi's The Brothers (1989) (Hamada Maya)
6.Perverse Lesbianism: BDSM, Rape and Incest in Cyber Chinese Girls' Love Fanfics (Jamie J. Zhao)

PART III. QUEER INTERSECTIONALITY
7.Troubling Others: Gay Aussie Men in 1990s Sinophone Fiction (Josh Stenberg)
8.Living in/with Ambiguity: Passing in Mu Cao's In the Face of Death We Are All Equal (Rebecca Ehrenwirth)
9.Chen Xue's Rags-to-Riches Subversion: An Underside Story of Taiwan's Economic Miracle told from a Working-Class Perspective (Sophia Huei-Ling Chen)
10.Queering Animality: Identity and Alterity in Chiu Miao-chin's Fiction (Carlos Rojas)
11.The Little Mushroom as the Queer/Wild: Disordering Desire and Desiring Disorder (Liang Ge)

PART VI. IN QUEER MEMORY
12.Queer Singapore Chinese Theatre: Staging Homosexuality, AIDS and Familial Acceptance (How Wee Ng)
13.Cui Zi'en on Queer Literature: A Conversation (Hongwei Bao and Cui Zi'en)
14.Queer Taiwanese Literature as World Literature: A Conversation (Howard Chiang with Hangping Xu)

Editorial Reviews

This rich and stimulating volume brings together a diverse cross-section of scholars looking at queer literature from all over the Sinosphere. The book's clever organization and impressive breadth (chronological, geographic, cultural, epistemological) ensure that it will become required reading in classrooms centering LGBTQ material from around the world.” —Professor Ari Heinrich, Australian National University, Australia

“This book challenges orthodox assumptions about queerness, Chineseness and literature itself by provoking us to think across political borders, scholarly disciplines, sex-gender identities and literary hierarchies. It is a treasure-trove of a collection, definitively illustrating the precious contribution that Chinese-language works and their translations and interpretations make to global queer literature.” —Professor Fran Martin, University of Melbourne; author of Backward Glances: Contemporary Chinese Cultures and the Female Homoerotic Imaginary (2010) and Situating Sexualities: Queer Representation in Taiwanese Fiction, Film and Public Culture (2003)

“This volume ushers in a new era of queer literary criticism in the Sinosphere. From Ming-Qing homoerotic literature to current GL (girl love) fanfic, from novels about sexual agency to the intersection of queer and working-class perspectives, to the queering of animality, and much more, these essays lead the way forward to queer futures by opening out to a multitude of trans-formations, of gendered and sexual embodiments. The capaciousness is inspiring; this volume broadens our imaginations of the possible.” —'Professor Lisa Rofel, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, author of Desiring China: Experiments in Neoliberalism, Sexuality, and Public Culture (2007)

“I particularly welcome Queer Literature in the Sinosphere as a collection of scholarly research addressing queer literature as literature, and to this end it is a significant contribution to the open intellectual project of testing where we are in relation to historical and literary categories and genres.” —Professor Wu Cuncun, The University of Hong Kong; author of Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China (2004) and and Xi wai zhi xi (Drama beyond the drama) (2017)

“The achievements of Queer Literature in the Sinosphere are considerable, and it is highly recommended reading for anyone-whether undergraduate, graduate, or general reader-interested in queer works from the Sinosphere. It provides valuable insights into the intersection of queerness, culture, and politics across different Sinophone regions, and serves as an important starting point for further exploration.” —MCLC

From the Publisher