Joseph Levenson – författare

In 1965, Joseph R. Levenson began working on a new trilogy to follow his earlier study of modern Chinese intellectual history, Confucian China and Its Modern Fate. By 1969, he had already sketched out basic outlines of the work, which was to be called Provincialism, Nationalism, and Cosmopolitanism. It was to consist of three volumes: one sounding the general themes of the arrangement, and two other elaborating its motifs. Accidental death tragically cut short Levenson's life and the preparation of the work. He did leave behind, however, an embryo of it in the form of this book, Revolution and Cosmopolitanism. Based upon a careful analysis of a wide selection of Western plays translated into Chinese during the twentieth century, Revolution and Cosmopolitanism tries to set the Communist Cultural Revolution into a new kind of historical perspective. Beginning with the demise of a Confucian China which "new youth" intellectuals found too provincial for their palates, Levenson shows how those same cosmopolitans in the 1920s and 1920s damed later Communist intellectuals of the 1950s for being to receptive to non-Chinese values. As Red Guards attacked symbols of a feudal Confucian past and a bourgeois foreign present, China slipped into a new sort of provincialism. Levenson analyzes their transformation with profound subtlety. Convinced that revolutionary China cannot forever seal itself off from universal cosmopolitan influences, he expresses sympathy throughout with the dilemma of rootless intellectuals in a society searching for a particular non-intellectual identity. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

China: An Interpretive History offers a compelling exploration of the origins of Chinese civilization, delving into the fascinating intersection of historical fact and cultural narrative. Beginning with the discovery of "Peking Man," this book examines the deep geological and evolutionary roots that predate Chinese history and raises profound questions about the nature of historical continuity. By tracing the line from prehistoric human remains to the emergence of a distinctly Chinese cultural identity, it illustrates how history, as a retrospective framework, imposes meaning on ancient artifacts and events, bridging the abstract with the culturally specific.The book's thought-provoking narrative does not merely recount events but interrogates the very concept of history itself, distinguishing biological evolution from cultural heritage. It invites readers to consider how "Peking Man," an evolutionary figure, becomes a historical one only through the lens of later cultural achievements and societal developments. This dynamic interplay between geography, anthropology, and the shaping of historical consciousness makes this work an essential resource for understanding how civilizations root themselves in the past while projecting their unique identities into the present.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1969.

The Mozartian Historian: Essays on the Works of Joseph R. Levenson is a profound tribute to the intellectual legacy of Joseph Levenson, an innovative historian whose interpretations of Chinese history reshaped the discipline. Edited by Maurice Meisner and Rhoads Murphey, this volume emerged from the shared sense of loss and intellectual urgency felt by colleagues after Levenson’s untimely death. More than a commemorative festschrift, the book serves as an analytical deep dive into the themes and methods that defined Levenson’s work, emphasizing their lasting relevance to historical and intellectual inquiry.Levenson’s scholarship, particularly in his seminal trilogy Confucian China and Its Modern Fate, challenged conventional historiographical norms by intertwining Chinese history with universal historical discourse. His comparative approach revealed the unique dimensions of Chinese traditions while situating them within broader human experiences of modernity and change. The essays in this collection reflect on Levenson’s radical conception of historical continuity, his dialectical understanding of change, and his incisive critique of cultural determinism. Balancing rigorous analysis with personal recollections, the contributors illuminate the intellectual audacity and humanity that defined Levenson’s career, making this book a vital resource for historians, Sinologists, and anyone engaged with the enduring tensions between tradition and modernity.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

The Mozartian Historian: Essays on the Works of Joseph R. Levenson is a profound tribute to the intellectual legacy of Joseph Levenson, an innovative historian whose interpretations of Chinese history reshaped the discipline. Edited by Maurice Meisner and Rhoads Murphey, this volume emerged from the shared sense of loss and intellectual urgency felt by colleagues after Levenson’s untimely death. More than a commemorative festschrift, the book serves as an analytical deep dive into the themes and methods that defined Levenson’s work, emphasizing their lasting relevance to historical and intellectual inquiry.Levenson’s scholarship, particularly in his seminal trilogy Confucian China and Its Modern Fate, challenged conventional historiographical norms by intertwining Chinese history with universal historical discourse. His comparative approach revealed the unique dimensions of Chinese traditions while situating them within broader human experiences of modernity and change. The essays in this collection reflect on Levenson’s radical conception of historical continuity, his dialectical understanding of change, and his incisive critique of cultural determinism. Balancing rigorous analysis with personal recollections, the contributors illuminate the intellectual audacity and humanity that defined Levenson’s career, making this book a vital resource for historians, Sinologists, and anyone engaged with the enduring tensions between tradition and modernity.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

China: An Interpretive History offers a compelling exploration of the origins of Chinese civilization, delving into the fascinating intersection of historical fact and cultural narrative. Beginning with the discovery of "Peking Man," this book examines the deep geological and evolutionary roots that predate Chinese history and raises profound questions about the nature of historical continuity. By tracing the line from prehistoric human remains to the emergence of a distinctly Chinese cultural identity, it illustrates how history, as a retrospective framework, imposes meaning on ancient artifacts and events, bridging the abstract with the culturally specific.The book's thought-provoking narrative does not merely recount events but interrogates the very concept of history itself, distinguishing biological evolution from cultural heritage. It invites readers to consider how "Peking Man," an evolutionary figure, becomes a historical one only through the lens of later cultural achievements and societal developments. This dynamic interplay between geography, anthropology, and the shaping of historical consciousness makes this work an essential resource for understanding how civilizations root themselves in the past while projecting their unique identities into the present.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1969.