Gendered Persona and Poetic Voice: The Abandoned Woman in Early Chinese Song Lyrics [Hardcover]

Gendered Persona and Poetic Voiceconsiders the effects on poetic voice of a conventional feminine persona, the abandoned woman, in early Chinese song lyric (ci) poems. The author reads the literary cross-dressing and ventriloquism of these mostly male-authored poems in light of the highly indeterminate Chinese poetic language. This study of persona and poetic voice will benefit scholars of lyric poetry in any language.Maija Bell Sameireceived her Ph.D. in Chinese Literature from the University of Michigan.

Maija Bell Samei goes beyond recent feminist readings ofcito seriously consider the ambiguity of gender in these poems. This book frees us from the assumption of a univocal persona in the lyric poetry of China and opens up new ways of reading not onlycibut also other genres. Future work in the field must take this study into account. Stuart Sargent, Colorado State University

Gendered Persona and Poetic Voiceis the first sustained study of the historical development and manipulation of the abandoned woman figure in early Chinese poetic genres, the song lyric in particular. Engaging with contemporary theories of performance and poetics, Dr. Bell Samei's many nuanced and insightful analyses of this feminine figure, in examples drawn from both popular and literati poetic traditions, introduce challenging perspectives on critical issues of gender, voice, and persona. An invaluable contribution to the fields of Chinese and comparative literature and gender studies. Grace S. Fong, McGill University

Chapter 1 Introduction: Voice, Persona, and Gendered Convention: Who is Speaking?
Chapter 2 A thousand, ten thousand resentments : The Story of a Convention
Chapter 3 Magpies, Waterclocks, and Lies: Images of Voice
Chapter 4 The Abandoned Woman as Object, Topos, and Ventriloquist's Puppet
Chapter 5 Conclusion