Writing war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946
The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45 was perhaps the single most destructive event in twentieth-century Chinese history. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to how war was experienced in the Nationalist-controlled area ('Free China') under Chiang Kaishek. Two autobiographi...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2008
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| _version_ | 1826264106879942656 |
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| author | Mitter, R |
| author2 | Royal Historical Society |
| author_facet | Royal Historical Society Mitter, R |
| author_sort | Mitter, R |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45 was perhaps the single most destructive event in twentieth-century Chinese history. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to how war was experienced in the Nationalist-controlled area ('Free China') under Chiang Kaishek. Two autobiographical texts are examined here, one a sequence of reportage from the early war years by the journalist Du Zhongyuan, and one a <em>biji</em> (notebook) written immediately after the war's end by the social scientist Xu Wancheng. By choosing particular modern or anti-modern genres and styles to write in, the authors expressed a wider sentiment about the war's ambiguous role in modernising China. Du's work hopes to create modernity from destruction; Xu's suggests that modern warfare has created chaos. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:02:27Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:27c65386-9ce6-47eb-9897-a68765460faf |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:02:27Z |
| publishDate | 2008 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:27c65386-9ce6-47eb-9897-a68765460faf2022-03-26T12:08:54ZWriting war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:27c65386-9ce6-47eb-9897-a68765460fafHistoryEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetCambridge University Press2008Mitter, RRoyal Historical SocietyThe Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45 was perhaps the single most destructive event in twentieth-century Chinese history. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to how war was experienced in the Nationalist-controlled area ('Free China') under Chiang Kaishek. Two autobiographical texts are examined here, one a sequence of reportage from the early war years by the journalist Du Zhongyuan, and one a <em>biji</em> (notebook) written immediately after the war's end by the social scientist Xu Wancheng. By choosing particular modern or anti-modern genres and styles to write in, the authors expressed a wider sentiment about the war's ambiguous role in modernising China. Du's work hopes to create modernity from destruction; Xu's suggests that modern warfare has created chaos. |
| spellingShingle | History Mitter, R Writing war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946 |
| title | Writing war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946 |
| title_full | Writing war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946 |
| title_fullStr | Writing war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Writing war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946 |
| title_short | Writing war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946 |
| title_sort | writing war autobiography modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist china 1937 1946 |
| topic | History |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mitterr writingwarautobiographymodernityandwartimenarrativeinnationalistchina19371946 |