"Using selected key figures from Chinese literature from the Tang through the Qing, Isaac Yue traces the increasing attribution of monstrous qualities to foreigners as a means to demean the Other while inflating the stature of Chinese cultural identity. Yue’s sharp observations on the evolving images of Zhang Fei, Sun Wukong, and Zhong Kui will surely inspire a reevaluation of the cultural relevance of the texts in which these figures appear." —Robert E. Hegel, Washington University in St. Louis
"Working with a range of literary material from the mediaeval to early modern periods, this book deftly explores the evolving and changing nature of ‘foreignness’ and provides insight into how peoples in the past constructed and understood not only others’ but also their own shared identities. By taking a multifaceted approach, Yue demonstrates how these understandings intersect with not only the human but also the animal and extrahuman. Yue has produced a pivotal work in the exploration of identity in China’s past." —Justin Winslett, University of Sheffield
"Monstrosity and Chinese Cultural Identity is a daring attempt to unearth Chinese modes of creating 'otherness' in terms of deviance and monstrosity, by focusing on three important figures: Zhang Fei, Sun Wukong, and Zhong Kui. Professor Yue carefully examines how new cultural images of these figures are recreated in the Late Tang and Song era by domesticating their wild and unruly nature and by appropriating their bestial and foreign countenances. He examines how traditional Confucian thought and the folk tradition negotiate between a rising xenophobic sentiment in the Southern Song and beyond and the popularity of foreign-looking or bestial heroes." —Stephen West, Arizona State University
"An original, daring reappraisal of the 'ugly hero' in Chinese fiction, this book should be especially commended for its subtle retelling of the evolution of Three Kingdoms General Zhang Fei, from early portrayals of him as being able to wield the calligrapher’s brush as well as the sword, to the brave but stupid and ugly companion of Liu Bei and Guan Yu. I particularly appreciated Yue’s hypothesis about the possible role of Yuan drama in this evolution. I was also persuaded by Yue’s reading of Sun Wukong’s duality. Through close readings of poetry, essays, drama, and novels, this book offers us a fine and original appraisal of the late imperial development in the classical opposition between civil talent (wen) and martial skills (wu) in Chinese culture, at a time of renewed confrontations between Han Chinese and barbarian outsiders." —Vincent Durand-Dastès, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (Inalco, Paris)
"A collection of three intriguing and highly readable studies on popular characters in traditional Chinese culture, who in their physical appearances showed some elements that did not conform to the notions of the Confucian gentleman—but in many other respects outperformed them as staunch upholders of traditional morality." —Journal of the American Oriental Society
