This volume explores cross-generic analysis as a hermeneutic approach to traditional Chinese literature through nine case studies, which cover a combined temporal span from the tenth to the twentieth century.
The contributors examine connections, parallels, and dialogic relations among canonical literary forms and other kinds of materials, both diachronically and synchronically, across and within texts, and between different modes of representation. A wide range of theoretical issues are elucidated, including cultural memory, gender, sexuality, visuality, theatricality, and regional identity. Expanding conventional understanding of what constitutes the literary, these studies also complicate and contribute to intellectual discourses beyond China studies.