Ideographic Modernism: China, Writing, Media

Ideographic Modernism offers a critical account of the ideograph (Chinese writing as imagined in the West) as a modernist invention. Rather than focusing on the accuracy of this ideograph as a kind of representation of China (a focus that would yield predictable results), Christopher Bush reconstructs the specific history of the ideograph in order to explore the question of representation in more fundamental ways, ways that reflect the diversity and complexity of literary modernism itself.On one level, the book makes an argument about the meaning and function of the ideograph during the modernist period, namely that this imagined Chinese writing was a complex response to the various writings of such technological media as the photograph, the phonograph, the cinematograph, and the telegraph. Through analyses of works by Claudel, Pound, Kafka, Benjamin, Segalen, and Valéry, among others, Ideographic Modernism traces the interweaving of Western modernity's ethnographic and technological imaginaries, in which the cultural effects of technological media assumed "Chinese" forms, even as traditional representations of "the Orient" lived on in modernist-era responses to media.On another level, the book makes a methodological argument, demonstrating new ways of recovering the generally overlooked presence of China in the text of Western modernism. In addition to being its subject matter, then, ideographic modernism is also the book's method: a polemically "literal" way of reading that calls for reevaluations both of how modernist literature related to its historical contexts and of the ways in which we can understand that relationship today.

Literature & Fiction

Bush, Christopher

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

Ideographic Modernism offers a critical account of the ideograph (Chinese writing as imagined in the West) as a modernist invention. Through analyses of works by Claudel, Pound, Kafka, Benjamin, Segalen, and Valery, among others, Christopher Bush traces the interweaving of Western modernity's ethnographic and technological imaginaries, in which the cultural effects of technological media assumed "Chinese" forms, even as traditional representations of "the Orient" lived on in modernist-era responses to media. The book also makes a methodological argument, demonstrating new ways of recovering the generally overlooked presence of China in the text of Western modernism.

I am going to commit a murder. I offer no apology for the curtness of the statement.
An individual taking the name ‘Marius’ boasts in a series of letters that he will commit the Perfect Murder, daring Scotland Yard detectives to catch him if they can. Ex-CID officer John Franklin and the amateur but astute detective Ludovic Travers will need to draw conclusons from a soiled letter, a locked room murder, four cast-iron alibis, and trips to France, in a feverish search for the killer and proof of his misdeeds—before ‘Marius’ can strike again.
The Perfect Murder Case was originally published in 1929. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
“All the points of the good detective story are here … excitement, ingenuity, suspense, crescendo, and a satisfactory conclusion.” Observer

The Perfect Murder Case: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Dean Street Press

“And that’s not all. Somers is dead too … He poisoned himself … in the lounge!”
The great English boxer Michael France looks set to become the new Heavyweight Champion of the world. Everyone is waiting with bated breath for the forthcoming and decisive match. Ex-CID officer John Franklin is no exception – but once the boxer is apparently murdered (twice), Franklin must join forces with Ludovic Travers once more in a layered and ingenious mystery where Michael France’s closest friends are the primary suspects – yet have cast-iron alibis. The final solution involves an ingenious and plausible murder technique, a fine demonstration of Christopher Bush’s imaginative and suspenseful plotting at its best.
Dead Man Twice was originally published in 1930. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Dead Man Twice: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

“And that’s not all. Somers is dead too … He poisoned himself … in the lounge!”
When the wealthy Cosmo Revere is killed by a falling tree, ex-CID officer John Franklin and Ludovic Travers chance to be staying in the vicinity. After examining the scene Franklin determines it was no accident. At the family lawyer’s request Franklin and Travers go undercover at Fenwold Hall, where the dramatis personae, among others, include a bewitching niece, a blustering colonel, and a vicar with a passion for amateur theatricals. Fenwold is a country house beset by secrets … and devious murder.
Murder at Fenwold was originally published in 1930. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
“A cleverly plotted tale of murder … in rural England.” Dashiell Hammett
“It is always a pleasure to read a really complicated detective story and Murder at Fenwold fully deserves a place in this category.” Spectator

Murder at Fenwold: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

However thorough your search was, I’m convinced the murderer, or the burglar—call him what you will—is still in the house.
Little Levington Hall, the site of the seasonal house party in Dancing Death, is owned by Martin Braishe, inventor of a lethal gas. Unfortunately for Braishe and his houseguests, their fancy-dress ball might more accurately be described as a fancy-death ball. After the formal festivities have taken place place, nine guests remain at the snowbound Hall, along with a retinue of servants. It is at this point that dead bodies most inconveniently begin to turn up at Little Levington Hall, like so many unwanted Christmas presents. It will be up to the eccentric Ludovic Travers, with his companions John Franklin and Superintendent Wharton of Scotland Yard, to solve this most intricate and ingenious of Yuletide mysteries.
Dancing Death was originally published in 1931. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Dancing Death: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

“If you don’t think I’m taking a liberty in saying so, my opinion is that he was knocked down first and hanged after!”
Ludovic Travers starts an investigation of unnatural death by means of an automobile mishap on a rural road. His associate Superintendent Wharton is investigating a suspicious suicide by hanging at the nearby village of Pawlton Ferris. When the supposed suicide turns out to be a case of murder, Travers realizes he recognizes the corpse, despite attempts to alter the dead man’s appearance. The plot is thickened by a strange letter sent to Travers by the eccentric and musical Claude Rook. As Travers and Wharton are drawn further into the investigation of the murder, they begin to fit more and more pieces into a weird puzzle, unlocking the strange secret of the dead man’s music.
Dead Man’s Music was originally published in 1931. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Dead Man's Music: A Ludovic Travis Mystery

Travers looked down at the face. On the collar was a red patch and a long streak. Across the throat was a gash.
Two rival London newspaper tycoons are at daggers drawn. But when Sir William Griffith’s corpse turns up in a hamper, his throat cut from ear to ear, the enmity appears to turned deadly. Or is it instead a case of domestic terrorism? Superintendent Wharton of the Yard brings Ludovic Travers into the case and together they investigate a gallery of additional suspects: explorer Tim Griffiths; Sir William’s financial secretary, Bland, and his wife; local vicar Reverend Cross; an archetypally sinister butler … and an intrusive crime reporter, who always seems to find himself in the thick of a crime scene. Wharton and Travers come to believe they have identified their murderer – but how can they break a cast-iron alibi?
Cut Throat was originally published in 1932. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Cut Throat: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

"It was some sort of sudden death?" Travers made a face. "It certainly was sudden. I'll say it's ten to one it was murder." Ludovic Travers is asked by an old school friend, Henry Dryden, to investigate the cause of the agitation in the formerly placid village of Bableigh - not to mention the gunshot death, ruled an accident, of Dryden's friend Tom Yeoman, the local impoverished squire. Even after Travers and ex-CID associate John Franklin arrive in Bableigh, however, the spell of unfortunate village "accidents" continues. And now there are rumours of a witches' coven, right in the heart of the community... Can Ludo and Franklin solve the mystery of the strange malaise that has afflicted the unfortunate Bableigh, and return the community to its previous state of pastoral grace? The Case of the Unfortunate Village was originally published in 1932. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

The Case of the Unfortunate Village: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

"Let us know when you're dead!" Ludovic Travers had known it was a publicity stunt, all that business about the anonymous threatening letters. He expected a hoax but what he found was two men lying dead on the floor of Crewe's bedroom. To be confronted with murder at eight in the morning was no joke. Norris, the quiet, steady Inspector of Scotland Yard, certainly didn't think so, although during the weeks he and Travers sought to puzzle it all out, he many times remarked, "It was on April Fool's Day, don't forget that." This is one of Bush's masterpieces - an intricate and baffling country house murder mystery. The Case of the April Fools was originally published in 1933. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

The Case of the April Fools: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

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Books by Bush, Christopher

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bush, Christopher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ideographic Modernism: China, Writing, Media

Ideographic Modernism: China, Writing, Media

The Perfect Murder Case: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

Dead Man Twice: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

Murder at Fenwold: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

Dancing Death: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

Dead Man's Music: A Ludovic Travis Mystery

Cut Throat: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

The Case of the Unfortunate Village: A Ludovic Travers Mystery

The Case of the April Fools: A Ludovic Travers Mystery