ABSTRACT
The chapter explores the theme of coming of age in so-called Sinophone literature at several levels. It looks at the development, maturation, and coming of age of global Chinese-language literature as a concept, a practice, and a field of research. It examines and contests the academic field that purports to study such Chinese-language literature under the rubric of “Sinophone.” This self-positioning and framing of global Chinese literary studies within a postcolonial Western structure of knowledge deserves close interrogation. The chapter analyses specific examples of coming-of-age narratives from the global Chinese-language literature. The literary texts illustrate as well as question preconceived theoretical perimeters of what Sinophone literature might be. Special attention is given to diasporic transnational coming-of-age narratives, short stories, and the Bildungsroman.
