The Reading of Russian Literature in China: A Moral Example and Manual of Practice

"This is a fascinating exploration of inter-cultural history and there is nothing like it in the English-language scholarship. In this regard, The Reading of Russian Literature in China is both timely and long overdue. Gamsa's ability to interweave discussions of Chinese, Russian, and Soviet exchanges in the midst of revolution and war is masterful. It is a work of extensive research and rich detail---a significant project. The book will be welcome to scholars and graduate students of Chinese studies, inter-cultural history of Russia and China, comparative literature generally, and Communist literature specifically."---Douglas Howland, David D. Buck Professor of Chinese History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

A comparative cultural and intellectual history, this study treats the reception of Russian literature in twentieth-century China, highlighting its elevation as a model for personal behaviour as well as for collective revolutionary struggle---"a moral example and manual of practice." Analysing the Chinese reading of Russian nineteenth-century literature and early Soviet fiction, Gamsa explains what led readers to a particularly close engagement with this literature and examines in fascinating detail the forms that this engagement took. Addressed to all those interested in the passage of ideas between cultures, this book makes an innovative contribution to research in modern Chinese and Russian history as well as comparative literature and book history.

Mark Gamsa teaches modern Chinese history and literature at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He is the author of The Chinese Translation of Russian Literature: Three Studies (2008).