The Substance of Fiction

The Substance of Fiction
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 160
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231553223
ISBN-13 : 0231553226
Rating : 4/5 (23 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Substance of Fiction by : Sophie Volpp

Download or read book The Substance of Fiction written by Sophie Volpp and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do the portrayals of objects in literary texts represent historical evidence about the material culture of the past? Or are things in books more than things in the world? Sophie Volpp considers fictional objects of the late Ming and Qing that defy being read as illustrative of historical things. Instead, she argues, fictional objects are often signs of fictionality themselves, calling attention to the nature of the relationship between literature and materiality. Volpp examines a series of objects—a robe, a box and a shell, a telescope, a plate-glass mirror, and a painting—drawn from the canonical works frequently mined for information about late imperial material culture, including the novels The Plum in the Golden Vase and The Story of the Stone as well as the short fiction of Feng Menglong, Ling Mengchu, and Li Yu. She argues that although fictional objects invite readers to think of them as illustrative, in fact, inconsistent and discontinuous representation disconnects the literary object from potential historical analogues. The historical resonances of literary objects illuminate the rhetorical strategies of individual works of fiction and, more broadly, conceptions of fictionality in the Ming and Qing. Rather than offering a transparent lens on the past, fictional objects train the reader to be aware of the fallibility of perception. A deeply insightful analysis of late Ming and Qing texts and reading practices, The Substance of Fiction has important implications for Chinese literary studies, history, and art history, as well as the material turn in the humanities.


The Substance of Fiction Related Books

The Substance of Fiction
Language: en
Pages: 160
Authors: Sophie Volpp
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-06-28 - Publisher: Columbia University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Do the portrayals of objects in literary texts represent historical evidence about the material culture of the past? Or are things in books more than things in
The Substance of Hope
Language: en
Pages: 204
Authors: William Jelani Cobb
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2010-06-02 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

For acclaimed historian William Jelani Cobb, the historic election of Barack Obama to the presidency is not the most remarkable development of the 2008 election
The Substance of Things Hoped For
Language: en
Pages: 233
Authors: Tom Noyes
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-04-12 - Publisher: Slant Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

For a brief time in mid-nineteenth century Oneida, New York, two of the most eccentric and fascinating figures in American history crossed paths when troubled s
The Book of the Most Precious Substance
Language: en
Pages: 332
Authors: Sara Gran
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-02-08 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The highly anticipated new thriller from internationally renowned author Sara Gran, author of Come Closer and the Claire DeWitt series. A mysterious book that p
The Substance of All Things
Language: en
Pages:
Authors: Sam Harris
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-04-15 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

When Theo Dalton was six years old, his hands were irreparably damaged in a horrific car accident that took his pregnant mother's life. Six years later, during