The Early Modern Period, Dream of the Red Chamber, and World Literature

Abstract This essay lies at the intersection of several fields: the study of the novel, world literature, early modern studies, and global modernity. It analyzes the representation of the outside world in the Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber (aka The Story of the Stone ) from the 18th century. There exist frequent appearances of foreign objects as well as glimpses of China’s trade with the West in the novel, and yet the literary work maintains a China-centered worldview. The essay situates the novel in the context of nascent world literature at that time and intervenes in the field of East-West comparative literature in the early modern period. The encounter with foreign objects and material culture is a shocking and exciting discovery as described in vivid details in this novel. Yet, China’s ambivalent attitude toward introducing and embracing foreign culture results in the belated emergence of world literature on its soil.