Representations of China in Latin American Literature (1987-2016)

The book "Representations of China in Latin American Literature (1987-2016)" explores how contemporary Latin American novels depict China, challenging assumptions and highlighting the complexities of its representation. It argues that China is a literary/imaginary "third term" that reframes Latin American discourses of alterity and resists essentialist constructions of identity. The book examines the representation of China in novels set in Latin America, linked to Chinese communities, and those focused on travel to contemporary China, critiquing essentialist notions of identity through its concept.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 01 December 2023
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and the OAPEN library as part of the Opening the Future project with COPIM.

Representations of China in Latin American Literature (1987-2016) delves into contemporary Latin American novels that revolve around China as their central theme. By employing the term "China as a multidimensional concept," the book explores how these novels both highlight and challenge assumptions about China that have influenced Latin America's understanding of "China." It presents "China" as a literary/imaginary "third term" that reframes Latin American discourses of alterity.

On one level, the book argues that these texts engage with the way "China" functions as a wandering signifier and a metonym for Asia, essentially essentializing it as an unchanging other. On another level, it contends that the novels' use of "China" resists essentialist constructions of identity. Thus, "China" is portrayed as a concept that enables criticism of the construction of fetishized otherness and the exclusion inherent in essentialist discourses of identity.

The book presents and analyzes the depiction of an imaginary of China in the novels, which is arguably performative but also reveals the tropes and themes that may be both established and subverted. Chapter One examines the representation and construction of "China" in Latin American novels where this country serves as the backdrop for their stories. Chapter Two explores the connection between the presence of Chinese communities in Latin America and the novels studied. The final chapter examines novels whose main theme revolves around travel to contemporary China.

Ultimately, in the novels studied in this book, "China" serves as a concept through which essentialist notions of identity are critiqued.

Dimension: 239 x 163 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781837644278