Hamm takes martial arts fiction beyond the confines of genre studies to situate it within a broader reexamination of Chinese literary modernity. Through careful readings of Xiang Kairan’s work, Hamm demonstrates that his writings, far from being the formally fossilized and ideologically regressive relics their critics denounced, represent a creative engagement with contemporary social and political currents and the demands and possibilities of an emerging cultural marketplace. At a time when writers associated with the New Culture movement promoted an aggressively modernizing vision of literature, Xiang Kairan consciously cultivated his debt to homegrown narrative traditions. The Unworthy Scholar from Pingjiang situates Xiang Kairan’s career in the larger contexts of Republican-era China’s publishing industry, literary debates, and political and social history. In this book, John Christopher Hamm shows how Xiang Kairan’s work and career offer a new lens on the transformations of fiction and popular culture in early-twentieth-century China. Xiang Kairan, who wrote under the pen name “the Unworthy Scholar from Pingjiang,” is remembered as the father of modern Chinese martial arts fiction, one of the most distinctive forms of twentieth-century Chinese culture and the inspiration for China’s globally popular martial arts cinema. At the conclusion of Act Three, Johnathan, having accepted a job offer to teach art at a local community college, proposes to Claire. All the demons are progressively transformed from the colors of Johnathan’s subconscious mind to realistic, tangible characters with whom Johnathan interacts as he becomes grounded in reality. The demons are with him in the hospital, filling the roles of the hospital staff as well as other patients on the ward. When Act Two begins, Johnathan is a grown man, hospitalized on an inpatient psychiatric ward. His subconscious mind is plagued by nine demons altogether: one black, one white, and one for each color of the spectrum. Up in his room after dinner, as Johnathan finishes his homework, he interacts with the demons that will haunt him throughout his youth. Susan Black is pregnant and will soon give birth to Johnathan’s only sibling, Anne Marie. Johnathan’s birthday is arriving, and his parents have decided to give him weekly painting lessons to encourage his young talent. The play begins when Johnathan is only twelve years of age and the Black family is just finishing their evening meal. The play follows Johnathan’s growth over the course of eighteen years, from the onset of his mental illness through his triumph over insanity as he accepts a position teaching art at a nearby community college. Throughout the drama, his psychoses are represented by percussion and dance. Color Me is the story of Johnathan Black, a painter who suffers from schizophrenia.
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