Böcker av Alexander Des Forges

Alexander Des Forges reads shiwen from a literary perspective, showing how the examination essay redefined prose aesthetics, transformed the work of writing, and marked the aesthetic as a key arena for contestation of authority as candidates, examiners, and critics joined to form a dominant social class of literary producers.

For many in the west, Shanghai is the quintessence of East Asian modernity. How did Shanghai acquire this power? This book shows that partial answers to these questions can be found in the products of Shanghai's media industry, particularly the Shanghai novel, a distinctive genre of installment fiction that flourished from the 1890s to the 1930s.