Includes bibliographical references.

Preliminary Material -- Wanton Women in Late-Imperial Chinese Literature: Models, Genres, Subversions and Traditions / Mark Stevenson -- The Polyandrous Empress: Imperial Women and their Male Favorites / Keith McMahon -- The Male Homoerotic Wanton Woman in Late Ming Fiction / Mark Stevenson -- Musical Seductresses, Chauvinistic Men, and Their Erotic Kunqu Discourse / Joseph Lam -- Late Ming Urban Life and Wanton Women in Huang Fangyin’s Short Plays / Cuncun Wu -- Wanton, but not Bad: Women in Feng Menglong’s Mountain Songs / Yasushi Ôki -- Turning the Authorial Table: Women Writing Wanton Women, Shame, and Jealousy in Two Qing Tanci / Maram Epstein -- Gossip, Scandal, and the Wanton Woman in Chinese Song-cycles / Anne McLaren -- Index.

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The contributors to Wanton Women in Late-Imperial Chinese Literature: Models, Genres, Subversions and Traditions draw attention to ‘wanton woman’ themes across time as they were portrayed in court history (McMahon), fiction (Stevenson), drama (Lam, Wu), and songs and ballads (Ôki, Epstein, McLaren). Looking back, the essays challenge us with views of sexual transgression that are more heterogeneous than modern popular focus on Pan Jinlian would suggest. Central among the many insights to be found is that despite gender performance in Chinese history being overwhelmingly determined by the needs of patriarchal authority, men and women in the late imperial period discovered diverse ways in which to reflect on how men constantly sought their own bearings in reference to women.