The lyrical in epic time : modern Chinese intellectuals and artists through the 1949 crisis / David Der-wei Wang.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Inventing the lyrical tradition -- A history with feeling -- The three epiphanies of Shen Congwen -- Of dream and snake: He Qifang, Feng Zhi, and born-again lyricism -- A lyricism of betrayal: the enigma of Hu Lancheng -- The lyrical in an epic time: the music and poetry of Jiang Wenye -- The riddle of the sphinx: Lin Fengmian and the polemics of realism in modern Chinese painting -- The spring that brought eternal regret: Fei Mu, Mei Lanfang, and the poetics of screening China -- And history took a calligraphic turn: Tai Jingnong and the art of writing -- Coda: Toward a critical lyricism.

Print version record.

This work uses the lyrical to rethink the dynamics of Chinese modernity. Although the form may seem unusual for representing China's social and political crises in the mid-twentieth century, the book contends that national cataclysm and mass movements intensified Chinese lyricism in extraordinary ways. The book calls attention to the form's vigour and variety at an unlikely juncture in Chinese history and the precarious consequences it brought about: betrayal, self-abjuration, suicide, and silence. Despite their divergent backgrounds and commitments, the writers, artists, and intellectuals discussed in this book all took lyricism as a way to explore selfhood in relation to solidarity, the role of the artist in history, and the potential for poetry to illuminate crisis.

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