On The Margins of Modernism: Xu Xu, Wumingshi and Popular Chinese Literature in the 1940s

Xu Xu and Wumingshi were among the most widely read authors in China during and after the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). An integral part of the literary scene at the time, their bestselling fiction has been given scant attention in histories of Chinese writing. This study re-establishes their importance within popular Chinese literature of the 1940s and presents in-depth analyses of their innovative short stories and novels, demonstrating how they incorporated and adapted narrative elements that reflected the influence of Shanghai modernist writers from the 1930s, including Shi Zhecun and Mu Shiying.