It is hard to remain unsurprised when one is told, having just opened this book, that the issue of moral agency, "one of the guiding principles of Western modernity, is almost a missing term in the scholarly treatment of modern Chinese fiction" (p. 28). That statement, though shocking and stern in wording, is actually true. However, scholars of modern Chinese literature, within or without China, seem to have hitherto ignored the topic of determinism (or fatalism in some cases) paralyzing the characters' moral agency in modern Chinese fiction. The topic itself deserves serious scholarly attention because moral agency in the book is regarded as the capability of moral judgment or action "in a way that furthers one's values and purposes" (p. 15). Any worthy literature cannot afford to be seen lacking in that quality.
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