This article provides a systematic study of Canon-Mocking Literature, an important cultural phenomenon in contemporary China. From the combined perspective of stylistics and cultural studies, the article suggests that Canon-Mocking Literature is a subversion of the discursive order of traditional canons, including their underlying aesthetics, morality, and cultural codes. The productive pleasure of Canon-Mocking Literature – that is of parody, collage, and pastiche – thus derives from the undermining of authority within certain limits. The second half of the article analyzes the relationship between the rise of Canon-Mocking Literature and the spread of cynicism in the sociohistorical context of contemporary China. It concludes that Canon-Mocking Literature is a means of cultural resistance and escape in a post-totalitarian society and possesses the dual character of both critique and compromise.
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July 1, 2007
Research Article|
July 01 2007
Making Fun of the Canon in Contemporary China: Literature and Cynicism in a Post-Totalitarian Society
Tao Dongfeng
Tao Dongfeng
Author Information
TAO DONGFENG IS PROFESSOR OF CHINESE AT CAPITAL NORMAL UNIVERSITY AT BEIJING, P. R. CHINA. HE IS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE CHINESE-LANGUAGE JOURNAL CULTURAL STUDIES. HIS RECENT BOOKS INCLUDE CULTURAL CRITICISM IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA: LITERATURE AND CULTURE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIAL THEORY AND CULTURAL STUDIES: THE WEST AND CHINA.
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Cultural Politics (2007) 3 (2): 203–222.
Citation
Tao Dongfeng; Making Fun of the Canon in Contemporary China: Literature and Cynicism in a Post-Totalitarian Society. Cultural Politics 1 July 2007; 3 (2): 203–222. doi: https://doi.org/10.2752/174321907X194020
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