Culture, History, and the Reception of Tennessee Williams in China

Shouhua Qi is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Yangzhou University, China and Professor of English at Western Connecticut State University, USA. Qi's research has been published in journals such as The Cambridge Quarterly, Comparative Drama, Classical Receptions Journal, Theatre Research International, The Ibsen Review, The Eugene O'Neill Review, and The Hardy Review. Among the more than 20 books Qi has published, including fiction, nonfiction, and literary translation, are Adapting Western Classics for the Chinese Stage (Routledge, 2018), The Brontë Sisters in Other Wor(l)ds (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and Western Literature in China and the Translation of a Nation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

This book is the first comprehensive study of the reception of Tennessee Williams in China, from rejection and/or misgivings to cautious curiosity and to full-throated acceptance, in the context of profound changes in China's socioeconomic and cultural life and mores since the end of the Cultural Revolution. It fills a conspicuous gap in scholarship in the reception of one of the greatest American playwrights and joins book-length studies of Chinese reception of Shakespeare, Ibsen, O'Neill, Brecht, and other important Western playwrights whose works have been eagerly embraced and appropriated and have had catalytic impact on modern Chinese cultural life.

1. Introduction.- 2. Speaking the Unspoken and the Unspeakable: Translating Tennessee Williams.- 3. From Cautious Curiosity to Deep Dive: Interpreting Tennessee Williams.- 4. Becoming Blanche Dubois: Adapting Tennessee Williams for the Chinese Stage.- 5. Conclusion.