Abandoned Women and Boudoir Resentment

The image and voice of abandoned women are a familiar topic to students of classical Chinese poetry. This book explores the formation of the conventional, male-constructed voice of women, characterized by the expression of loneliness and resentment by a lady longing for an absent lover.

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This book studies the formation of the male-constructed conventional voice of women in Chinese literature from the 3rd to 6th century.

It highlights specific moments during which the feminine voice became recognized, accepted, and stabilized, including the shift of focus from the performative to the textual in female representations; the formation of a male literary community; the popularity of romanticized historical narratives; and the emerging sense of literary history.

This study emphasizes the historicity of the feminine voice and strives to question and challenge established notions about textual stability, authorship, the literary canon, and literary history.