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Polygamy and Sublime Passion : Sexuality in China on the Verge of Modernity
US $21.93
ApproximatelyS$ 28.14
Condition:
Very Good
A book that has been read but is in excellent condition. No obvious damage to the cover, with the dust jacket included for hard covers. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, and no underlining/highlighting of text or writing in the margins. May be very minimal identifying marks on the inside cover. Very minimal wear and tear.
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Located in: Ozark, Missouri, United States
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Estimated between Fri, 19 Sep and Thu, 25 Sep to 94104
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eBay item number:256911796553
Item specifics
- Condition
- Features
- Library Binding
- ISBN
- 9780824833763
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
University of Hawaii Press
ISBN-10
0824833767
ISBN-13
9780824833763
eBay Product ID (ePID)
77841524
Product Key Features
Number of Pages
224 Pages
Publication Name
Polygamy and Sublime Passion : Sexuality in China on the Verge of Modernity
Language
English
Subject
Ethnic Studies / General, Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Asia / China, Sociology / Marriage & Family, Prostitution & Sex Trade
Publication Year
2009
Type
Textbook
Subject Area
Social Science, History
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Weight
17.6 Oz
Item Length
9 in
Item Width
6 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Scholarly & Professional
LCCN
2009-030299
Dewey Edition
22
Dewey Decimal
306.84/23095109034
Synopsis
For centuries of Chinese history, polygamy and prostitution were closely linked practices that legitimized the "polygynous male," the man with multiple sexual partners. Despite their strict hierarchies, these practices also addressed fundamental antagonisms in sexual relations in serious and constructive ways. Qing fiction abounds in stories of female resistance and superiority. Women--main wives, concubines, and prostitutes--were adept at exerting control and gaining status for themselves, while men indulged in elaborate fantasies about female power. In Polygamy and Sublime Passion, Keith McMahon introduces a new concept, "passive polygamy," to explain the unusual number of Qing stories in which women take charge of a man's desires, turning him into an instrument of female will. To this he adds a story that haunted the institutions of polygamy and prostitution: the tale of "sublime passion," in which the main characters are a "remarkable" woman and her male lover. Throughout the book McMahon examines how polygamy, prostitution, and the story of sublime passion encountered the first stages of paradigmatic change in the nineteenth century, decades before the legal abolition of polygamy. By the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911, love stories were celebrating the exploits of street-smart prostitutes who fleeced gullible patrons in the bustling city of Shanghai. What do these characters have in common with their early counterparts as men and women became inhabitants of a new city in an era flooded with ideas from radically foreign sources--all of this taking place in a time of economic and cultural dislocation? McMahon reads late Qing love stories in a historically symbolic way, taking them as part of a larger fantasy of Chinese civilization undergoing a fundamental crisis. The polygamous marriage and the affairs of the brothel became metaphorical staging grounds for portraying the destiny of China on the verge of modernity. Finally, McMahon speculates on the changes polygamous sexuality underwent after the Qing dynasty ended and whether it exerted a residual influence in later times. Polygamy and Sublime Passion will undoubtedly engage those interested in Chinese society, culture, literature, and gender studies as well as comparativists seeking to understand the diverse responses to modernization around the world., For centuries of Chinese history, polygamy and prostitution were closely linked practices that legitimized the polygynous male, the man with multiple sexual partners. Despite their strict hierarchies, these practices also addressed fundamental antagonisms in sexual relations in serious and constructive ways. Qing fiction abounds in stories of female resistance and superiority. Women--main wives, concubines, and prostitutes--were adept at exerting control and gaining status for themselves, while men indulged in elaborate fantasies about female power. In Polygamy and Sublime Passion, Keith McMahon introduces a new concept, passive polygamy, to explain the unusual number of Qing stories in which women take charge of a man's desires, turning him into an instrument of female will. To this he adds a story that haunted the institutions of polygamy and prostitution: the tale of sublime passion, in which the main characters are a remarkable woman and her male lover. Throughout the book McMahon examines how polygamy, prostitution, and the story of sublime passion encountered the first stages of paradigmatic change in the nineteenth century, decades before the legal abolition of polygamy. By the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911, love stories were celebrating the exploits of street-smart prostitutes who fleeced gullible patrons in the bustling city of Shanghai. What do these characters have in common with their early counterparts as men and women became inhabitants of a new city in an era flooded with ideas from radically foreign sources--all of this taking place in a time of economic and cultural dislocation? McMahon reads late Qing love stories in a historically symbolic way, taking them as part of a larger fantasy of Chinese civilization undergoing a fundamental crisis. The polygamous marriage and the affairs of the brothel became metaphorical staging grounds for portraying the destiny of China on the verge of modernity. Finally, McMahon speculates on the changes polygamous sexuality underwent after the Qing dynasty ended and whether it exerted a residual influence in later times. Polygamy and Sublime Passion will undoubtedly engage those interested in Chinese society, culture, literature, and gender studies as well as comparativists seeking to understand the diverse responses to modernization around the world.
LC Classification Number
HQ981.M36 2010
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- eBay automated Feedback- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthOrder completed successfully – tracked and on time
- eBay automated Feedback- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthOrder completed successfully – tracked and on time
- s***s (1850)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseGood conditionKnowing Bass: The Scientific Approach To Catching More Fish (#256895943001)