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Wang Anyi is one of the most remarkable figures in the Chinese literary scene of recent decades. Her extensive writings, covering a rich variety of pieces, include the 1995 novel The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, which holds a unique place in Chinese literature as a magnificent portrait of life in Shanghai over four decades of the twentieth century. This masterpiece has generally been related to the nostalgia wave of the 1990s that has echoed in literary and other cultural spheres. However, this is not merely a journey to the past, but also, and notably, an exploration of China today and a lucid reflection on its future. Taking nostalgia as a reference point for analysis, the novel uncovers some of the more distinctive features of Wang Anyi's particular literary universe. Wang's view of history as a discourse in which time and memory are inextricably linked provides profound insights into the social evolution of China in the twentieth century, and her very singular evocation of the city of Shanghai reflects an outstanding writing style and exemplifies the luxuriance and diversity of contemporary Chinese literature.
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Nostalgia in the Literary Scene of the 1990s
The decade of the 1990s in China was marked by a wave of nostalgia that affected the entire country but most especially large cities like Shanghai. This complex phenomenon is often identified with the rapid urban development experienced in that decade in China, spearheaded by the apparently unstoppable growth of Shanghai. The consequence of the rapid physical transformation of Shanghai has been the shrinking of neighborhoods and disappearance of a way of life associated with the city's past and unique cultural tradition. This cultural tradition-which developed toward the end of the nineteenth century but began to fall out of favor after 1949-awakened a sense of nostalgia throughout China in the 1990s, with the city of Shanghai as its main focus.
Nostalgia and Shanghai as Depicted in the Literature
The reasons behind widespread nostalgia for Old Shanghai are associated with the profound changes experienced by China in the last decades of the twentieth century.1 On the one hand, the far-reaching economic reforms of the 1980s fostered the development of Shanghai and revitalized the commercial and cosmopolitan spirit of its...