04036nam a2200469 i 4500 ebr10822082 CaPaEBR m o d cr cn||||||||| 130910t20132013waub ob 001 0deng|d 9780295993171 (hardback) 9780295993188 (paperback) 9780295804910 (e-book) CaPaEBR eng rda pn CaPaEBR (OCoLC)874133280 eng chi a-cc--- DS759.35 .Z53613 2013eb 951/.034092 23 Zhang, Daye, 1854- Weichong shijie. English The world of a tiny insect : a memoir of the Taiping rebellion and its aftermath / by Zhang Daye ; translated, with an introduction, by Xiaofei Tian. Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2013] �2013 1 online resource (209 pages) : map text rdacontent computer rdamedia online resource rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references and index. "From the cry of a tiny insect, one can hear the sound of a vast world. "So begins Zhang Daye's preface to The World of a Tiny Insect, his haunting memoir of war and its aftermath. In 1861, when China's devastating Taiping rebellion began, Zhang was seven years old. The Taiping rebel army occupied Shaoxing, his hometown, and for the next two years, he hid from Taiping soldiers, local bandits, and imperial troops and witnessed gruesome scenes of violence and death. He lost friends and family and nearly died himself from starvation, illness, and encounters with soldiers on rampages.Written thirty years later, The World of a Tiny Insect gives voice to this history. A rare premodern Chinese literary work depicting a child's perspective, Zhang's sophisticated text captures the macabre images, paranoia, and emotional excess that defined his wartime experience and echoed throughout his adult life. The structure, content, and imagery of The World of a Tiny Insect reveals a carefully crafted, fragmented narrative that skips in time and probes the relationships between trauma and memory, revealing both history and its psychic impact. Xiaofei Tian's annotated translation includes an introduction that situates The World of a Tiny Insect in Chinese history and literature and explores the relevance of the book to the workings of traumatic memory. Zhang Daye (b. 1854) is known only as the author of The World of a Tiny Insect. Xiaofei Tian is professor of Chinese literature at Harvard University. Among her recent publications is Visionary Journeys: Travel Writings from Early Medieval and Nineteenth-Century China."The author and narrator recounts his terrible experiences and miraculous survivals with a child's curiosity and in a vivid, straightforward way. But he also embeds what happened to him in a larger historical, philosophical, moral, and aesthetic context. No comparable primary source available in English does anything like this for the Taiping Rebellion." --Judith Zeitlin, University of Chicago"-- Provided by publisher. Description based on print version record. Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2014. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries. Zhang, Daye, 1854- China History Taiping Rebellion, 1850-1864 Personal narratives. China History 1861-1912. China Biography. Electronic books. Tian, Xiaofei, 1971- Print version: Zhang, Daye. world of a tiny insect : a memoir of the Taiping rebellion and its aftermath. Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2013] viii, 200 pages 9780295993188 (DLC) 2013035414 ebrary. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/rucke/Doc?id=10822082 An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click to view 85971 85971