The Sword or the Needle: The Female Knight-Errant (Xia) in Traditional Chinese Narrative

By Roland Altenburger

This study focussing on narratives about female knights-errant ( nüxia ) cuts along a thematic line in Chinese literary history, and thus seeks to contribute to understanding and appreciation mainly in three fields of inquiry: the formation of narrative subgenre; the literary representation of gender; and the particularities of the Chinese knight-errantry narrative. It traces the processes of textual collecting, editing, rewriting, and intertextual referencing by which narratives about female knights-errant were invented as, and forged into, a thematic sub-genre. The narratives about a character type who boldly transgresses gender boundaries are studied as an exemplary case for a general inquiry into the subversive significance of images of gender-bending strong female characters in the Chinese narrative tradition. Finally, the present study investigates into representations of the practice of Chinese knight-errantry, which includes assassination for social policing, private vengeance, and banditry.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3034300360
• ISBN13: 9783034300360
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Peter Lang Group Ag, International Academic P
• Length: 430 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.9" x 8.7"