Julia LovellFBA (born 1975) is a British scholar, author, and translator whose non-fiction books focus onChina. Lovell is professor of Modern Chinese History and Literature atBirkbeck, University of London. Her works on theOpium Wars (The Opium Wars: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China, 2011) andMaoism (Maoism: A Global History, 2019) were widely reviewed. Her translations include works byLu Xun,Han Shaogong,Eileen Chang and others.
Lovell was born in 1975 inCarlisle, North West England.[1] Her parents were teachers who encouraged her to study foreign languages.[1] She decided to study Chinese after readingJung Chang's bookWild Swans (1991), which her mother lent her.[1] Lovell completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees atEmmanuel College, Cambridge.[2] She is an alumna of theHopkins–Nanjing Center.
Lovell is professor of Modern Chinese History and Literature atBirkbeck, University of London, where her research has focused on the relationship between culture (specifically, literature, architecture, historiography and sport) and modern Chinesenation-building.[3]
Lovell's books includeThe Politics of Cultural Capital: China's Quest for a Nobel Prize in Literature (University of Hawaii Press, 2006),The Great Wall: China Against the World 1000 BC – AD 2000 (Atlantic Books, 2006),[4]The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China (Picador, 2011) andMaoism: A Global History (Random House, 2019).
Lovell is also aliterary translator; her translations include works byLu Xun,Han Shaogong,Eileen Chang andZhu Wen. Zhu Wen's bookI Love Dollars and Other Stories of China, which Lovell translated, was a finalist for theKiriyama Prize in 2008.[5] Her bookThe Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China won theJan Michalski Prize for Literature. It was the first non-fiction book to win the prize.[6]
She was awarded aPhilip Leverhulme Prize in 2010 in the category of Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern History. These prizes are given to young scholars who have made a significant contribution to their field.[7]
Lovell has written articles about China forThe Guardian,The Times,The Economist andThe Times Literary Supplement.[8]
She is married to authorRobert Macfarlane.[9]
Lovell's bookThe Opium Wars: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China was widely reviewed in both scholarly journals and the press. Matthew W. Mosca, writing inThe Journal of Asian Studies, wrote that theOpium War had "once ranked among the most studied events in Chinese history", but interest had notably declined. Lovell, he said, suggested that there were still holes in English language coverage and that Chinese scholarly and popular interest in the war has, if anything, grown. Lovell, he concludes, "is certainly correct that the Opium War, as an event in the round, has been curiously neglected in Western scholarship" and hers is "the only book-length general history of the conflict in English by an author directly consulting both Chinese and Western sources." He noted that the book devoted much space to explaining how 20th-century politics, especially under the Nationalist Party government ofChiang Kai-shek, used these events to build patriotic sentiment.[10]
Oxford University professorRana Mitter wrote inThe Guardian that Lovell's book "is part of a trend in understanding theBritish empire and China's role in it," and that the "sense of an unfolding tragedy, explicable but inexorable, runs through the book, making it a gripping read as well as an important one."[11] A reviewer inThe Economist commented: "Julia Lovell's excellent new book explores why this period of history is so emotionally important for the Chinese" and "more importantly" explains "how China turned the Opium Wars into a founding myth of its struggle for modernity."[12]
Lovell's 2019 history ofMaoism (Maoism: A Global History) was widely reviewed.[13]Ian Johnson praised it inThe New York Times as the first comprehensive, accessible history of the subject.[14] A review byAndrew J. Nathan inForeign Affairs praised Lovell's writing but argued that she overstatedMao's global influence: "Mao often served as a symbol for activists who did things their own way, including theBlack Panthers in the United States and theShining Path in Peru."[15]
A broadly negative review in the socialist magazineJacobin similarly argued that Lovell overstated Mao's influence, but concluded that the book could be used as a resource for leftists "to better understand our history — even the ugly parts."[16] A review in theUS Marine Corps'Journal of Advanced Military Studies praised the book for filling a gap in the literature, stating that "A thorough understanding of Maoism's philosophical underpinnings and legacy has become increasingly salient to the American military professional."[17] A lengthy review byJulian Gewirtz inHarper's concluded, "Lovell's history underscores just how difficult it is to export a political idea wholesale, whether that idea is Maoism or therule of law."[18]
Jeffrey Wasserstrom wrote inTime that Lovell's translation of the works ofLu Xun "could be considered the most significant Penguin Classic ever published."[19]
