DLM 110: Chinese Traditions of the Self: Books

The center of this prodigious work of scholarship is a fresh examination of the range of Chinese thought during the formative period of Chinese culture. Benjamin Schwartz looks at the surviving texts of this period with a particular focus on the range of diversity to be found in them. While emphasizing the problematic and complex nature of this thought he also considers views which stress the unity of Chinese culture. Attention is accorded to pre-Confucian texts; the evolution of early Confucianism; Mo-Tzu; the "Taoists,"; the legalists; the Ying-Yang school; and the "five classics"; as well as to intellectual issues which cut across the conventional classification of schools. The main focus is on the high cultural texts, but Mr. Schwartz also explores the question of the relationship of these texts to the vast realm of popular culture.

The center of this prodigious work of scholarship is a fresh examination of the range of Chinese culture thought during the formative period of Chinese culture. Benjamin Schwartz looks at the surviving texts of this period with a particular focus on the range of diversity to be found in them. While emphasizing the problematic and complex nature of this thought he also considers views which stress the unity of Chinese culture Attention is accorded to pre-Confucian texts, to the evolution of early Confucianism, to Mo-Tzu, to the "Taoists" the legalists, the Ying-Yang school, the "five classics" as well as to intellectual issues which cut across the conventional classification of schools. The main focus is on the high cultural texts, but Mr.Schwartz also explores the question of the relationship of these texts to the vast realm of popular culture.

First published in 1939. This book consists chiefly of extracts from Chuang Tzu, Mencius and Han Fei Tzu. Chuang Tzu's appeal is to the imagination; the appeal of mencius is to the moral feelings; realism, as expounded by Han Fei Tzu, finds a close parallel in modern Totalitarianism and as a result these extracts from a book of the third century B.C. nonetheless have a very contemporary connection.

Taiwanese born, Ang Lee (b. 1954) has produced diverse films in his award-winning body of work. Sometimes working in the West, sometimes in the East, he creates films that defy easy categorization and continue to amaze audiences worldwide. Lee has won an Academy Award two times for Best Director--the first Asian to win--for films as different as a small drama about gay cowboys in Brokeback Mountain (2005), and the 3D technical wizardry in Life of Pi (2012). He has garnered numerous accolades and awards worldwide. Lee has made a broad range of movies, including his so-called "Father Knows Best" trilogy made up of his first three films: Pushing Hands (1992), The Wedding Banquet (1993), and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), as well as 1970s period drama The Ice Storm (1997), martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), superhero blockbuster Hulk (2003), and hippie retro trip Taking Woodstock (2009). Thoughtful and passionate, Lee humbly reveals here a personal journey that brought him from Taiwan to his chosen home in the United States as he struggled and ultimately triumphed in his quest to become a superb filmmaker. Ang Lee: Interviews collects the best interviews of this reticent yet bold figure.

Contemporary Chinese films are popular with audiences worldwide, but a key reason for their success has gone unnoticed: many of the films are adapted from brilliant literary works. This book is the first to put these landmark films in the context of their literary origins and explore how the best Chinese directors adapt fictional narratives and styles for film. Hsiu-Chuang Deppman unites aesthetics with history in her argument that the rise of cinema in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in the late 1980s was partly fueled by burgeoning literary movements. Fifth Generation director Zhang Yimou's highly acclaimed films Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern, and To Live are built on the experimental works of Mo Yan, Su Tong, and Yu Hua, respectively. Hong Kong new wave's Ann Hui and Stanley Kwan capitalized on the irresistible visual metaphors of Eileen Chang's postrealism. Hou Xiaoxian's new Taiwan cinema turned to fiction by Huang Chunming and Zhu Tianwen for fine-grained perspectives on class and gender relations. Delving equally into the individual approaches of directors and writers, Deppman initiates readers into the exciting possibilities emanating from the world of Chinese cinema. The seven in-depth studies include a diverse array of forms (cinematic adaptation of literature, literary adaptation of film, auto-adaptation, and non-narrative adaptation) and a variety of genres (martial arts, melodrama, romance, autobiography, documentary drama). Complementing this formal diversity is a geographical range that far exceeds the cultural, linguistic, and physical boundaries of China. The directors represented here also work in the U.S. and Europe and reflect the growing international resources of Chinese-language cinema. With her sophisticated blend of stylistic and historical analyses, Deppman brings much-needed nuance to current conversations about the politics of gender, class, and race in the work of the most celebrated Chinese writers and directors. Her pioneering study will appeal to all readers, general and academic, who have an interest in Chinese literature, cinema, and culture.