Testing the Literary: Prose and the Aesthetic in Early Modern China

by Alexander Des Forges

The civil service examination essay known as shiwen (modern or contemporary prose) or bagu wen (eight-legged essay) for its complex structure was the most widely read and written literary genre in early modern China (1450-1850). As the primary mode of expression in which educated individuals were schooled, shiwen epitomized the literary enterprise even beyond the walls of the examination compound. But shiwen suffered...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674251180
• ISBN13: 9780674251182
• Release Date: May 2021
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.1"