ABSTRACT
This book revisits a Chinese revolutionary feminist legacy through an encounter with a group of seminal twentieth century Chinese women writers at the point of intersection of their print works and life passages. Informed by, but unlike works in recent literary studies that focus on the discursive formation of modern Chinese nation state and its gendering effects,2 I am centrally interested in the radical degrees to which Chinese women writers re-invented their lives along with their writings, each in her distinctly conditioned and fundamentally revolutionary way. I trace their literary scenes and lived trajectories as intertwining loci of their innovative struggles to navigate the force fields of a violent history while aspiring to women’s empowerment. As my discussion develops, I inquire how such struggles by women in print and in life may invite us to re-think aspects of twentieth century China and the Chinese revolution.
