Ghosts in East Asia in the Past and Present

Presentation

Demons and ghosts, gui 鬼, are among the most striking figures in Chinese culture, and continue to haunt Chinese and neighbouring societies today. 

The first volume of this spectral collection seeks to more clearly define these beings, that in East Asia most resemble our idea of “ghosts”, before offering an analysis of historical literary works in which they appear. 

In the second volume, readers will find articles addressing the issue of ghosts in the modern and contemporary eras. The contributions highlight the phenomenon of ghosts in literature and the arts (novels, cinema, graphic arts, etc.) and aim to define what can be qualified as an aesthetic of phantasmagoria in past and present East Asia.

Interview

Editors

Marie Laureillard is a lecturer in Chinese studies at Université Lumière-Lyon 2 and a member of the Lyon Institute of East Asian Studies (IAO). She holds a doctorate in art history from Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV) and a degree from Inalco. A literary translator, she conducts research on aesthetics, the semiotics of writing and images, and the cultural history of the modern Chinese world. Her published works include Au fil du pinceau : Feng Zikai, un caricaturiste lyrique (Brushstroke by brushstroke: Feng Zikai, a lyrical cartoonist), 2017, and Images écrites de la Chine d’aujourd’hui (Written images of China today).

Vincent Durand-Dastès began his study of China during the 1980s in Taiwan, then in Tianjin and Beijing. He was a curator at the library of the French School of the Far East (EFEO) before becoming a lecturer and researcher at Inalco, where he is currently a professor of classical Chinese language and literature. His interest in dramatic repertoire, as a long-time enthusiast of traditional Chinese theatre, led him to specialize in the study of pre-modern narrative literature, in all of its aspects. His research focuses more specifically on the relationship between literature and the supernatural.

1016 pages
16 x 24 cm
Publication: 26/09/2017
ISBN: 9782858312610