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Essays into Vietnamese Pasts (Studies on Southeast Asia, No. 19)
Essays into Vietnamese Pasts - Studies on Southeast Asia, No. 19 Author:John K. Whitmore A collection of essays demonstrating ways to read the pasts of Vietnam through detailed analyses of its art, chronicles, legends, documents, and monuments. The many voices heard throughout the book undermine the idea of a single Vietnamese past. Essayists include Tran Quoc Vuong and Shawn McHale (who considers the refashioning and expansion of w... more »omen's roles in society that occurred through the medium of the printed word from the years 1918 to 1934). Six papers deal with the writing (in both stone inscription and paper manuscript) and language in premodern Vietnam. All essays, while varied in presentation, considerations, and interpretations, are connected by their common concerns with language and text--its hermeneutic and epistemological possibilities--and the way in which texts are reedited or recopied to reflect contemporary concerns, reveal modern voices, and shape newer minds.« less