China Seminar | 5 January 1984

Shadows in a Bitter Sea

Arnold Edelstein

Dr. Arnold Edelstein, Chairman of the English Department of the University of Hawaii, will address the question of the literature of the China experience. Having spent two consecutive years in Tianjin teaching English and literature, he is in a suitable position to comment on the tendencies of the recent literature on China, and will therefore speak on the subject of “Shadows in a Bitter Sea.” The title comes from Simon Leys Chinese Shadows and Fox Butterfield’s Alive in a Bitter Sea, two works representing the “unfavorable” or “realistic” assessment of the China experience.