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  • The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear

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The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear

by Nan Z. Da (Author) Format: Hardcover
4.6 out of 5 stars (7)
90 days free of Amazon Music with purchase Terms
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A compelling new reading of The Tragedy of King Lear that finds parallels in twentieth-century Chinese history

At the start of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, King Lear promises to divide his kingdom based on his daughters’ professions of love, but portions it out before hearing all of their answers. For Nan Da, this opening scene sparks a reckoning between The Tragedy of King Lear, one of the cruelest and most confounding stories in literature, and the tragedy of Maoist and post-Maoist China. Da, who emigrated from China to the United States as a child in the 1990s, brings Shakespeare’s tragedy to life on its own terms, addressing the concerns it reflects over the transition from Elizabeth I to James I with a fearsome sense of what would soon come to pass. At the same time, she uses the play as a lens to revisit the world of Maoist China—what it did to people, and what it did to storytelling.

Blending literary analysis and personal history, Da begins in her childhood during Deng Xiaoping’s Opening and Reform, then moves back and forth between Lear and China. In her powerful reading, the unfinished business of Maoism and other elements of Chinese thought and culture—from Confucianism to the spectacles of Peking Opera—help elucidate the choices Shakespeare made in constructing Lear and the unbearable confusions he left behind.

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  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Princeton University Press
  4. Publication date
    June 10, 2025
  5. Dimensions
    5.75 x 1 x 8.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0691269165
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0691269160
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From the Publisher

The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear Nan Z. Da

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Shortlisted for the Baifang Schell Book Prize, China Books Review"

"An ambitious blend of literary criticism and political analysis. . . . Da’s grasp of China’s 20th century history demonstrates how hauntingly Shakespeare prefigures the horrors unleashed by Mao’s coercive authority."---Ron Charles, Washington Post

"Da’s new book . . . [serves] as axiom, intuition, experimental hypothesis, and knowing provocation. . . . The Chinese Tragedy of “King Lear” is not about how King Lear became a Chinese play; it is about why Da instinctively knew that it had been one all along."---Catherine Nicholson, New York Review of Books

"In a book that weaves together memoir, history, historiography, and literary criticism, Da lays out what feels like a stunning legal case for Lear and China’s mutual illumination. Her equal facility at discussing the play, its historiography, Jacobean England, and nearly every decade of modern Chinese history . . . renders The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear a work without scholarly precedent."---Amy R. Wong, Los Angeles Review of Books

"Wonderfully original. . . . By using King Lear to illuminate modern China’s tragic fall into upheaval and tyranny under Mao, Da reminds us why Shakespeare’s plays still have worth. In ways that discussions of policy cannot, they help us make sense out of human motivation."---Orville Schell, China Books Review

"Compelling and enjoyable."---Peter Gordon, Asian Review of Books

"By deftly underscoring the many cross-pollinating elements of King Lear and modern Chinese history, The Chinese Tragedy teleports the play forward in time without adumbrating its literary specificity. The book models the style of transhistorical criticism that’s required for writing into and through this moment."---Thomas Dai, Georgia Review

"Candid, concise, cleverly analysed. . . a resounding joy to both read and wholeheartedly embrace." ― David Marx Book Reviews

Review

“This book is a brilliant achievement. Nan Da evokes Shakespearean layers of intertwining allegory, darkness, and historicity, creating a window through which we can reinterpret history—one that reveals distant hills, flowing rivers, and expansive fields. Eschewing the tedium and clichés often found in academic criticism, this book repeatedly draws us back to an inexplicable and raw reality. What happened to China? What is happening to China? Determined to uncover the truths of history, The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear compels us to revisit emotions, love, romanticism, betrayal, and folly with fresh understanding.”—Ai Weiwei

“The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear showcases an extraordinary mind: incandescent, honest, astute, even wise. This is a deeply felt, and profoundly considered, work of genre-defying criticism.”—David J. Baker, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“This is an extraordinary book. It is unlike anything I have ever read before, a bracingly written and thematically wide-ranging work that moves in exciting ways between memoir and scholarship, between literary criticism and literary theory, and between Britain in the distant past and China in the last century and the present.”—Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, author of Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 10, 2025
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691269165
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691269160
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1 x 8.75 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #239,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars (7)

About the author

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Nan Da

Nan Da

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4.6 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    Reviewed in Germany on December 24, 2025
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    If one aims to gather a deep understanding about China’s 20th century history until the present this book offers it’s readers knowledge way beyond description of facts. The brilliant author travels deep into humanitarian and sociological undercurrents.

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