Saying All That Can Be Said: The Art of Describing Sex in Jin Ping Mei

by Keith McMahon

In Saying All That Can Be Said, Keith McMahon presents the first full analysis of the sexually explicit portrayals in the Ming novel Jin Ping Mei 金瓶梅 (The Plum in the Golden Vase). Countering common views of those portrayals as "just sex" or as "bad sex," he shows that they are rich in thematic meaning and loaded with social and aesthetic purpose. McMahon places the novel in the historical context of Chinese...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674291352
• ISBN13: 9780674291355
• Release Date: January 2023
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 312 Pages