Fragmentation and Dramatic Moments

This book is the first comprehensive study in English of the art of an extraordinarily gifted Chinese writer, Zhang Tianyi, and affords an illuminating account of the most important stage in the development of modern Chinese fiction in the 1930s. It probes into Zhang's art of narrative, and elucidates the complex way in which he responded to some of the Western literary theories imported to China by firmly placing his fiction in the context of the political and social upheaval in modern Chinese history. By examining Zhang's art of narrative and that of some other writers, Fragmentation and Dramatic Moments has opened a unique vista of related literary and aesthetic issues in modern Chinese literary history. « Here at last we have an in-depth study of Zhang Tianyi in English. Yifeng Sun's detailed analysis puts an end to the vague generalizations that have so long obscured Zhang's identity and stature. This book points out many features of language, style and social relevance that were virtually unknown. It is not just good Sinology but a good book about China and about how literature can work. (Lloyd Haft, Leiden University)