Misers, Shrews, and Polygamists : Sexuality and Male-Female Relations in Eighteenth-Century Chinese Fiction

Preface ix Notes on Romanization xii Potent Polygamists and Chaste Monogamists 1(27) Sexuality and Male-Female Subjectivity in Qing Fiction 1(9) The Various Character Types and the Theme of Female Superiority 10(2) Misers, Shrews, and Polygamists 12(5) Marriage and Sexuality in Fiction and Other Sources of Qing History 17(11) Polygamy According to Fiction and Prescriptive Models 28(27) The Problems of Polygamy in History, Fiction, and Prescriptive Texts 32(16) Polygamy in Jin Ping Mei and Other Late Ming Fiction 48(4) An Overview 52(3) Shrews and Jealousy in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Vernacular Fiction 55(27) Jealous Wives and Henpecked Husbands 58(3) The Ars Erotica, the Shrew Story, and the Sexual Power of the Woman 61(5) The Repertoire of Stories about Shrews 66(16) The Self-Containing Man: The Miser and the Ascetic 82(17) The Miser in Ming and Qing Fiction 84(9) The Ascetic Ji Dian 93(3) Self-Containment, Male and Female 96(3) The Chaste ``Beauty-Scholar'' Romance and the Superiority of the Talented Woman 99(27) The Romantic Marriage of Talented Beauty and Handsome Scholar 99(4) Definition of the Chaste Caizi Jiaren Romance 103(4) The Remarkable Woman and her Relationship with the Man 107(6) The Chaste Polygamous Romance Yu Jiao Li 113(9) The Rational Optimism of the Beauty-Scholar Romance 122(1) The Idealization of Women 123(3) The Erotic Scholar-Beauty Romance 126(24) ``Crossing the Wall'' 126(2) Between Chaste and Erotic in Jinxiang ting and Qingmeng tuo 128(3) Further Departures from the Chaste Romance 131(9) Contagious Promiscuity in Chundeng Mishi, Taohua Ying, and Xinghua Tian 140(6) The Idealism of the Erotic Romance 146(4) A Case for Confucian Sexuality: Chaste Polygamy in Yesou Puyan 150(26) The Confucian Superman 150(3) The Author and his Work 153(3) Confucian Superman in a Lascivious World 156(14) Yesou Puyan in Light of Honglou Meng and Other Fiction of the Ming and Qing 170(4) The Marriage of Confucian Orthodoxy and Erotic Literature 174(2) Polygyny, Crossing of Gender, and the Superiority of Women in Honglou Meng 176(29) Honglou meng and the Chaste and Erotic Romances 176(3) The Study of Honglou meng in China 179(5) Symmetry and the Superiority of Women 184(6) The Prepolygamist's Mingling with Women 190(12) The Idealization of Presexual Adolescence 202(3) The Overly Virtuous Wife and the Wastrel Polygamist in Lin Lan Xiang 205(16) Women's Sacrifice and Formation of Alliances 208(3) Five Types of Women in the Polygamous Household 211(8) The Hidden Influence of Virtuous Women 219(2) The Spoiled Son and the Doting Mother in Qilu Deng 221(13) Qilu Deng on Women and Family Life 225(2) The Ruination Caused by Motherly Love 227(3) The Wastrel versus the Shrew 230(4) The Other Scholar and Beauty: The Wastrel and the Prostitute in Luye Xianzong 234(17) The Wastrel and the Prostitute 238(8) The Addiction to Sexual Desire 246(3) Women's Demands and the Danger of Women 249(2) The Benevolent Polygamist and the Domestication of Sexual Pleasure in Shenlou Zhi 251(14) The Mirage of Love 253(2) Guangdong and the Contact with Foreigners 255(2) The Good Polygamist, Nonwastrel, Nonmiser 257(4) Male Sexual Bosses 261(2) Xiaoguan, Suchen, and Baoyu 263(2) Ernu Yingxiong Zhuan as Antidote to Honglou Meng 265(18) The Warrior Woman Thirteenth Sister 269(4) The Soft Male Hero 273(6) Health and Pollution 279(4) Promiscuous Polygyny and Male Self-Critique 283(10) Chaste and Unchaste Heroines in Jin Yun Qiao and Jinghua Yuan 284(2) Alienation and Alliance between Men and Women 286(7) Notes 293(34) Bibliography 327(14) Glossary of Chinese Characters 341(24) Index 365