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Palgrave Macmillan

Queering Gender, Sexuality, and Becoming-Human in Qing Dynasty Zhiguai

Querying the Strange Tales

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Thomas William Whyke

    1. School of International Communications, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China

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  2. Melissa Shani Brown

    1. Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Offers a contemporary queer reading of Chinese Qing Dynasty zhiguai ‘strange tales’
  • Draws on intersections between queer theory and animal studies
  • The first book-length analysis of the researched tales through theoretical lenses of queer theory

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies (PSAPS)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Reading the Strange Tales Queerly

    • Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown
    Pages 1-40

  3. Queerying Identity: Intersecting Identities in Qing Dynasty China

    • Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown
    Pages 41-79

  4. Transformation as the Nature of Things: Queering the Non/Human in Qing Dynasty Zhiguai

    • Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown
    Pages 81-108

  5. Alternating States: Queerying Non/Binary Gender in Qing Dynasty Zhiguai

    • Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown
    Pages 109-136

  6. Strange Women: Queerying Female Sexuality in Qing Dynasty Zhiguai

    • Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown
    Pages 137-168

  7. Strange Men: Queerying Male Sexuality in Qing Dynasty Zhiguai

    • Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown
    Pages 169-198

  8. Becoming-Perverse: Pornography and Queer Sexual Equality in Zhiguai

    • Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown
    Pages 199-228

  9. Conclusions: The Resilience of the Strange

    • Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown
    Pages 229-237

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 239-246
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Keywords

About this book

This book offers queer readings of Chinese Qing Dynasty zhiguai, ‘strange tales’, a genre featuring supernatural characters and events. In a unique approach interweaving Chinese philosophies alongside critical theories, this book explores tales which speak to contemporary debates around identity and power. Depictions of porous boundaries between humans and animals, transformations between genders, diverse sexualities, and contextually unusual masculinities and femininities, lend such tales to queer readings. Unlike previous scholarship on characters as allegorical figures or stories as morality tales, this book draws on queer theory, animal studies, feminism, and Deleuzian philosophy, to explore the ‘strange’ and its potential for social critique. Examining such tales enriches the scope of historic queer world literatures, offering culturally situated stories of relationships, desires, and ways of being, that both speak to and challenge contemporary debates.




Authors and Affiliations

  • School of International Communications, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China

    Thomas William Whyke

  • Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Melissa Shani Brown

About the authors

Thomas William Whyke is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo China.

Melissa Shani Brown is affiliated with the Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Queering Gender, Sexuality, and Becoming-Human in Qing Dynasty Zhiguai

  • Book Subtitle: Querying the Strange Tales

  • Authors: Thomas William Whyke, Melissa Shani Brown

  • Series Title: Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4258-9

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-99-4257-2Published: 24 August 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-99-4260-2Due: 24 September 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-99-4258-9Published: 23 August 2023

  • Series ISSN: 2662-7922

  • Series E-ISSN: 2662-7930

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 246

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Asian Literature, Cultural Studies, Psychology, general

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