“Mr. T. A. Hsia’ s approach is…a kind of ‘cultural criticism’ fusing literary criticism with biography, history, and sometimes philosophy—the tradition of Sainte-Beuve, Edmund Wilson, and George Steiner.”

—Leo Ou-fan Lee

As one of the few foundational texts to provide a critical overview of the aesthetics and politics of China’s leftist literary movement, The Gate of Darkness examines the conflicting dilemmas between leftist authors’ own ideals and the strict ideological frameworks imposed by the propaganda policies of the Chinese Communist Party in the early twentieth century.

Numerous reviews appearing in the leading East Asian studies journals have acknowledged the historical importance of the book which has few comparisons. The cultural critic Leo Ou-fan Lee believes that this book gives one of the most significant scholarly analyses of Lu Xun’s work towards the end of his life, revealing the “darkness” that pervaded his later works such as “Wild Grass.” He calls Tsi-an Hsia “a creative and compassionate scholar” who has opened Lu Hsün’s inner “gate of darkness” to unveil “a fascinating world of demons and ghosts as dramatized in village operas and popular superstitions.”