S.E. Kile

S.E. Kile specializes in early-modern Chinese literature, examining Ming and Qing drama, fiction, and essays in light of the historical contexts of their production and circulation. Dr. Kile's current book project explores how an audacious cultural entrepreneur, Li Yu (1611-1680), engineered and marketed a new experience of the everyday in the burgeoning market economy of the early Qing dynasty. Dr. Kile proceeds by investigating Li Yu’s literary production—he wrote entertainment-oriented fiction and plays, as well as inventive essays—together with his work in publishing and bookselling, garden design, and theater production. Kile argues that his representation and commodification of these experiments challenged received ideas about what constituted cultural capital, markers of social status, and narratives of viable identities alike. In addition to Ming and Qing literature, Dr. Kile's research and teaching interests include theatricality and performance; social network analysis; the body, gender, and sexuality; book culture; and the comparative study of early-modern visual and textual representational practices.

Affiliation(s)

• Michigan Society of Fellows

Field(s) of Study

• Early-Modern Chinese Literature