C. T. Hsia
C. T. Hsia | |
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夏志清 | |
Born | Chih-tsing Hsia January 11, 1921 Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
Academic background | |
Education | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | |
Institutions | Columbia University |
Hsia Chih-tsing (Chinese: 夏志清; January 11, 1921 – December 29, 2013), or C. T. Hsia, was a Chinese historian and literary theorist. He contributed to the introduction of modern Chinese literature to the Western world by promoting the works of once marginalized writers in the 1960s. Today, C. T. Hsia is considered one of the most important critics of Chinese literature.
Biography
Career
C. T. Hsia was born in
Family Members
C.T. Hsia married his wife Della Wang in 1969. His survivors include two daughters, Joyce McClain and Natalie Hsia; a son, Ming Hsia; and four grandchildren.
Death
C.T. Hsia died in New York City on December 29, 2013, at the age of 92,[6][7] and a funeral service for him took place on January 18, 2014.[8]
Scholarship and legacy
The pioneer of modern Chinese literature studies in the English-speaking world
C. T. Hsia is often considered "the most influential critic of Chinese fiction since the 1960s" and his essays have become an essential part of the scholarship on Chinese literature.[9] With the publication in 1961 of A History of Modern Chinese Fiction, 1917–1957, C. T. Hsia introduced modern Chinese literature to the West by "providing a close analysis and the first English translations of writers who are now widely recognized,"[10] thereby establishing "modern Chinese literature as an academic discipline in the English-speaking world.[11]
Contributions to the study of classical Chinese fiction
As a literary critic, C. T. Hsia was instrumental in shaping a modern understanding of classical Chinese fiction. The Classic Chinese Novel, first published in 1968 and reprinted several times, is an introduction for Western readers to the six novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties which Hsia considered to be of highest value:
Rediscovering and showcasing marginalized modern Chinese writers
C. T. Hsia was particularly adept at rediscovering and showcasing marginalized writers like Shen Congwen, Qian Zhongshu, or Eileen Chang.[15] On the later, he writes: "to the discerning student of modern Chinese literature, Eileen Chang is not only the best and most important writer in Chinese today; her short stories alone invite valid comparisons with, and in some respects claim superiority over, the work of serious modern women writers in English Katherine Mansfield, Katherine Anne Porter, Eudora Welty, and Carson McCullers."[16] Although Eileen Chang's success was immediate in the Chinese-speaking world, it was not until the 1960s and the publication of C. T. Hsia's A History of Modern Chinese Fiction, that she became famous in the Western world. Karen S. Kingsbury thus notes: "As C. T. Hsia, one of her earliest and most perceptive advocates, remarked (in A History of Modern Chinese Fiction), mi-century American readers' view of China were greatly influenced by writers like Pearl. S. Buck, which left them unprepared for Chang's melancholy incisiveness and insider's perspective."[17]
C.T. Hsia and Eileen Chang
C. T. Hsia's scholarship encompasses many Chinese authors and genres, he is particularly associated with Eileen Chang's works. In 1957, C. T. Hsia published a full-length study of Eileen Chang in Wenxue zazhi, a Taiwanese literary journal edited by his brother T. A. Hsia, thus launching Chang studies.
Publications covered a wide range of topics
In addition to his two monumental works, A History of Modern Chinese Fiction and The Classic Chinese Novel, C. T. Hsia also published many articles "ranging from nineteenth century literati culture and novels (on
Criticism
Despite his monumental works on Chinese literature, C. T. Hsia was often criticized for his "Eurocentric, anticommunist stance as well as his New Critical criteria."
Less theory-laden work
The introduction to the third edition of Hsia's A History of Modern Chinese Fiction by
Unpatriotic literary criticism viewed by nationalistic Chinese
C. T. Hsia's essay "Obsession with China" concentrated the criticism. To Hsia, "modern Western authors use literary techniques to critique modernity, giving voice to our collective disappointment and disillusionment. Modern Chinese authors, however, labor under a historically imposed limitation in that they restrict their critiques to the dark side of Chinese society, not human society in general." Leo Ou-fan Lee explains that many nationalist Chinese considered this view unpatriotic and politically biased.[32]
Selected works
Books
- 鸡窗集(Rooster by the Window) (1964).[33]
- 中国现代小说史 (A History of Modern Chinese Fiction) (1961).[34]
- 中国古典小说 (The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction)(1968).[35]
- 爱情社会小说(Love, Society, and the Novel)(1970).[36]
- 二十世纪中国小说选 (Twentieth-Century Chinese Stories)(1971).[37]
- 文学的前途(The Future of Literature)(1974).[38]
- 夏济安日记(The Diary of Hsia Tai-An, (1946)), published in 1975.( Editor and annotator)[39]
- 人的文学(Humane Literature) (1977).[40]
- 新文学的传统(Chinese Literature: The New Tradition) (1979)[41]
- 中国现代中短篇小说 (Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas,1919–1949)(1981). Coeditor with S.M Lau, and Leo Ou-fan Lee.[42]
- 印象的组合(A System of Impressions) (1982).[43]
Articles in English
- "To What Fyn Lyve I Thus? – Society and Self in Chinese Short Story" (1962)[44]
- "Comparative Approaches to Water Margin" (1962)[45]
- "Residual Feminity: Women in Chinese Communist Fiction" (1963)[46]
- "Love and Compassion in Dream of the Red Chamber" (1963)[47]
- ——— (1963), "On the 'Scientific' Study of Modern Chinese Literature: A Reply to Professor Prusek", T'oung Pao, 50: 428–,
References
- ^ Wang, David Der-wei. "In Memory of C. T. Hsia." Chinese Literature Today, 4:1(2014.), 110. https://doi.org/10.1080/21514399.2014.11834037
- ^ Lee, Coral; Scott Williams (August 2006). "Academica Sinica Meeting Focuses on Academic Competitiveness". Taiwan Panorama. p. 50. Retrieved February 17, 2008.
- ^ 夏志清:中国文人应酬太多. Xinhua News (in Chinese). January 17, 2007. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2008.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ 臺灣大百科全書. 1998. "夏濟安." Last modified September 9, 1998. http://nrch.culture.tw/twpedia.aspx?id=7668
- ^ "Renowned literary critic Hsia Chih-tsing dies at 92". WantChinaTimes.com. January 1, 2014. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
- ^ Yardley, William (January 9, 2014). "C. T. Hsia, Who Brought Chinese Literature to the West, Dies at 92". The New York Times.
- ^ "Welcome to nginx". Archived from the original on January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
- ^ Starr, Chloë. "C. T. Hsia on Chinese Literature. By C. T. Hsia." The China Quarterly 179 (September 2004), Cambridge, 826.
- ^ Yardley, William. "Hsia, 92, Scholar of Chinese Modern Literature." The New York Times (obituary), January 11, 2013.
- ^ Wang, David Der-wei. "In Memory of C. T. Hsia." Chinese Literature Today, 4:1(2014.), 110. https://doi.org/10.1080/21514399.2014.11834037
- ^ Birch, Cyril. "The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction. By C. T. Hsia." Journal of the American Orient Society, Vol. 91, No. 2 (April–June 1971), 359.
- ^ Birch, Cyril. "The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction. By C. T. Hsia." Journal of the American Orient Society, Vol. 91, No. 2 (April–June 1971), 361.
- ^ Andrew H. Plaks, The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel: Ssu Ta Ch'i-Shu (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987), p. 4
- ^ Wang, David Der-wei. "In Memory of C. T. Hsia." Chinese Literature Today, 4:1(2014.), 110. https://doi.org/10.1080/21514399.2014.11834037
- ^ Hsia, C. T. A History of Modern Chinese Fiction, 1917–1957. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961, 389.
- ^ Kingsbury, Karen S. "Introduction," in Eileen Chang. Love in a Fallen City. Translated by Karen S. Kingsbury and Eileen Chang. New York: New York Review Books, 2007, p. xiv.
- ^ Wang, David Der-Wei. "Foreword," in Han Bangqing. The Sing-Song girls of Shanghai. Translated by Eileen Chang; Revised by Eva Hung. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, xviii.
- ^ Wang, David Der-Wei. "Foreword," in Han Bangqing. The Sing-Song girls of Shanghai. Translated by Eileen Chang; Revised by Eva Hung. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, xix.
- ^ Hsia, Chih-Tsing. "Zhang Ailing geiwo de xinjian" (Eileen Chang's correspondence with me), Lianhe wenxue (Unitas) 14, no. II (1998)
- ^ Ailing Zhang (Eileen Chang) Papers, 1919–1994, University of Southern California Digital Library. http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/search/collection/p15799coll92/searchterm/Correspondence/field/parta/mode/exact
- ^ Wang, David Der-wei. "In Memory of C. T. Hsia." Chinese Literature Today, 4:1(2014.), 110. https://doi.org/10.1080/21514399.2014.11834037
- ^ Wang, David Der-wei. "In Memory of C. T. Hsia." Chinese Literature Today, 4:1(2014.), 111. https://doi.org/10.1080/21514399.2014.11834037
- ^ Wang, David Der-wei. "In Memory of C. T. Hsia." Chinese Literature Today, 4:1(2014.), 111. https://doi.org/10.1080/21514399.2014.11834037
- ^ Jaroslav Prusek, "Basic Problems of the History of Modern Chinese Literature and C. T. Hsia, History of Modern Chinese Fiction," T'oung-pao 49.4 (1961): 357–404. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4527525
- ^ Hsia (1963).
- JSTOR j.ctv253f82s.112
- ^ C T Hsia 1999, A History of Modern Chinese Fiction; Third Edition: p. vii to xxxv.
- ^ C T Hsia op. cit., p. vii.
- ^ C T Hsia op. cit., p.ix.
- ^ C T Hsia op. cit., xiv.
- S2CID 165732809.
- ^ Hsia, Chih-tsing. 1964. Ji Chuang Ji (Rooster by the Window). Taipei: Jiu Ge Chu Ban She You Xian Gong Si. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/99887812
- ^ Hsia, C. T. 1974. A History of Modern Chinese Fiction. New Haven: Yale University Press. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/489894266
- ^ Xia, Zhijing. 1968. The Classic Chinese Novel: a Critical Introduction = Zhong Guo Gu Dian Xiao Shuo. New York: Columbia University.http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/803306430
- ^ Sha, Zi-qing. 1979. Love, Society, and the Novel. Taipei: Pure Literature Pub. Co.http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/907526955
- ^ Xia, Zhiqing. 1971. Twentieth Century Chinese Stories. New York: Columbia University Press. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/632309005
- ^ Hsia, Chih-tsing.1974. The Future of Literature. Tapei: Chun-wen-hsueh Chu-pan-she.
- ^ Xia, Jian, and Xia, Zhiqing. 1975. The Diary of Hsia Tai-An. Taipei: Shi Bao Wen Hua Chu Ban. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/848433919
- ^ Hsia, Chih-tsing. 1977. Ren Di Wen Xue Chu Ben She. Taipei: Shun Wen Xue Chu Ben She. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/320996700
- ^ Xia, Zhiqing. 1979. Xin Wen Xue De Chuan Tong. Taipei: Shi Bao. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/813746099
- ^ Lau, S. M., Lee, Leo Ou-fan and Hsia, C.T. 1981. Modern Chinese stories and novellas 1919–1949. New York: Columbia University Press.http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/924926668
- ^ Hsia.C. 1982. A System of Impression. Hong Kong: Hongkong Wen-hsueh Yen-Chiu-She.
- ^ Hsia, C. T. 1962. "To What Fyn lyve I Thus?: Society and Self in the Chinese Short Story." The Kenyon Review 24 (3): 519–41.
- ^ Hsia, C. T.1963."Comparative Approaches to Water Margin." Year of Comparative and General Literature (11).
- ^ Hsia, C. T. 1963 ."Residual Feminity: Women in Chinese Communist Fiction." The China Quarterly (13).
- ^ HSIA, C. T. 1963. "Love and compassion in 'dream of the red chamber'". Criticism 5 (3): 261–71.