East Asian Languages and Societies Commons^™

How Can A Literary Theory Be In The Era Of Post Theories?, Wei Song

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Theoretical paradigm of modernity is met with unprecedented challenge and crisis, amid contemporary innovation and transformation of thoughts, thinking and discourse. Issues emerging from the post theory and "after theory" become important points for academic reflection. Post theories belong to the theoretical paradigm of postmodernity with a deconstructionist critical spirit. The reconstruction of literary theory in the era of post theories is not only a response and a critical questioning to contemporary cultural transformation, and the reality concern and critical dimension are the most demanding cultural-political issues in the process of the reconstruction.

The Gestation, Evolution And Cultural Implication Of The Concept Of "Author" In Ancient China, Chunqing Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper examines the development of the concept of "author" in ancient China from the pre-Qin to the Han-Wei Period. The trajectory can be found from Confucius's "explicating without writing down" to the claim that "the authors are too holy to be named" in The Book of Rites, and down to Cao Pi's "Jiayi could be named as a real author [on the basis that] his 'On the Qin's Governance' evaluated Zhou and Qin's merits and demerits, explicated the uninterpreted phenomena, exemplified with the mores from the past three dynasties and illuminated with the sages' teaching." This process, from the …

戰國文字構形特徵研究, Yan Ho Siu

Lingnan Theses

綜觀歷來的戰國文字研究，不少學者均主張依地域分系，學者何琳儀(1943-2007)將戰國文字分為齊、燕、晉、楚、秦五系，近代研究亦多取何氏的分域方法。學者李運富(1957-)認為，地域特點僅屬文字的書寫風格，不能作為分系的依據，質疑戰國文字的分域方法。何琳儀於其著作《戰國古文字典》與《戰國文字通論》中，嘗試列舉不同字例，以五系的分域方法，收集大量戰國文字的資料，概括構形的地域特點，唯何氏的論說未有對五系文字的特徵作更整體和深入的考察。基於前代學者的研究，本文以戰國文字為研究核心，透過構形的比較與歸納，補充近年出土的材料，嘗試從不同的角度，探討戰國文字的構形特徵與演變情況，論證戰國文字「東、西土分用」的說法以及劃分成五系的必要。

本文的主體部分共分五章。第二章從微觀的角度，依個別域系分類，逐一援引字列，分析當中的字符、部件，集中呈現各系的地域特徵。第三章同樣以域系作區分，嘗試通過整合與歸類，指出不同字符、部件的類化現象，嘗試凸現各系文字的相異之處。第四章集中比對「東土四系」(齊、燕、晉、楚)與「西土秦國」的文字，通過字例的展示，歸納彼此相異的構形，論證王國維(1877-1927)等學者主張戰國文字「東、西土分用」的說法。第五章以宏觀的角度，逐一展示、分析五系文字構形各異的個體字符，嘗試以相同的字例，說明五系文字各自存有的地域特徵。第六章以五系文字當中，構形同時相同與相異的字符為例，分析當中的異、同原因，了解五系文字的構形演變。

通過本文橫向與縱向的文字比對，可知五系文字的構形或受書寫材料影響，但當中演變並不受載體所限。戰國五系文字同源於殷周文字，經過程度不一的構形演變，加上各域系對文字所作具規範的整合，五系文字的構形越趨不同，地域特徵更為明顯，可證戰國文字有分作五系的必要。從本文的不同分類與探討，可見戰國文字存在「東、西土分用」的情況，但僅為當時文字構形異、同的現象之一。五系文字的構形異、同存在不同情況，表示戰國文字處於演變的階段，說明戰國五系文字「同中趨異」的現象。

A Further Reflection On The References Of Verbal Signs And Images, Jingpeng Zhao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Language and writing are two different systems. Language as a system of sound symbols has the unique feature of containing "image" (verbal icon) in the sounds, and while writing, compared with the other images, are images that can be pronounced. A further reflection leads to the observation that the resemblance between the verbal icon and the referent can only decide the relation between the meaning and the referent but cannot undermine the arbitrary relationship between the pronunciation and the verbal icon or between the signifier and the signified. In other words, it cannot change the nature of the linguistic sign …

Aesthetic Anthropology Should Focus On The Aesthetic Connotation Of Ethnic Culture, Zheng Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper argues that aesthetic anthropological research should be directed at aesthetic ideas and their external forms of ethnic culture, as well as the general principles of the gestation, change and development of these ideas and forms. When the aesthetic contents of ethnic cultures are contaminated by industrial civilization and popular culture, with their unique core value increasingly undermined, aesthetic anthropology will lose ground of its academic focus. Aesthetic anthropology should aim to reveal the aesthetic connotation of ethnic cultures and maintain the positivist unique quality of anthropology.

Cleanth Brooks's Theory Of Fiction And His Critical Practice, Feiliang Fu, Shunqing Cao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Cleanth Brooks' critical study on fiction, especially on William Faulkner's, is a remarkable achievement. Brooks claimed that there is no essential difference between fiction criticism, poetry criticism and drama criticism. In fiction criticism, Brooks' emphases remain on textual skills such as irony, paradox and symbol, taking fiction as an organism that should be independent of the social life and political propaganda, and opposing Romantic sentimentalism. Nevertheless, Brooks also lay great weight to the historical context and geographical environment of an author, emphasizing the influence of an author's life experience and entire body of works on a particular fiction, and attaching …

Discourse Power And The International Status Of Chinese Contemporary Literary And Art Theory, Shengxun Shi

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Discourse power is a problem emerged when Chinese art encounters the Western discourse hegemony. Theoretical expression is crucial to the acquisition and presence of the discourse power over art, while the discourse power over literature and art theory is essential to Chinese art discourse power. International status is an entailing problem of the internationality of discourse power and it encompasses discourse power into the global framework of totality. However, in the global framework of literary and art theory China remains silent, and thus the issue of the international status of Chinese literary and art theory emerges. Chinese theoretical scholars have …

From The Peach Blossom Fan ToThe Classic Of Mountains And Seas: A Way On Chinese Literature Of Professor Shi Ting-Quan (Richare E. Strassberg), Guozhong Peng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Professor Shi Tingquan (Richare E. Strassberg) in UCLA had been exposed to Chinese culture in his childhood. Later, he studied in Princeton University for his Doctor's degree, his research was on K'ung Shang-ren's play The Peach Blossom Fan and later he wrote a book named The World of K'ung Shang-ren: A Man of Letters in Early Ch'ing China. In the book, he argued that K'ung put many things he had experienced into his play and made it into a semi-biographical play. K'ung's Peach Blossom Fan and the beautiful sceneries of the South Yangtze River depicted in this book further intrigued …

On The Tragic Consciousness Of Chinese Aesthetics, Zhirong Zhu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In Chinese aesthetics, tragic consciousness shows as the poetic experience of a subject's empathy with objects, and this experience covers the bereavement or life-long separation, which may also reflect in the melancholic sense for the passing of spring and the coming of autumn in Chinese ancient literary works. The tragic consciousnesses of the literati, the hero and the female have their particular characteristics and inherent spirit. In ancient Chinese tragedies is seen a general transition of spirit from the heroic to the common and secular. On the one hand, this tragic consciousness is deeply influenced and constrained by Chinese cultural …

On The Ways For Literature To Pervade Reality, Xuan Wu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper raises the issue on how valid the traditional categorization of creative methods such as realism, romanticism and modernism can explain the uniqueness and originality of classical writers such as Dostoevsky and Lu Xun etc. It observes that classical writers have shared experience in the originality of literary creation which shows in their unique questions in philosophy or humanity targeting at the social reality of their own time while establishing their own understanding upon the questions and the understanding leads to the unique structuring of literary works. Therefore, a methodological schema can be found between individual concerns, personal understanding …

The Antiquity-Revival Movement And The Study Of Ci-Poetry In The Ming Dynasty, Yi Yu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The Antiquity-Revival Movement had a profound influence on literature in the Ming Dynasty, which also showed in poetics as the devaluing of poetry written in the Song Dynasty and establishing a direct lineage between the then prevailing Ci-poetry to the ancient poetic tradition of the Han-Wei and Six-Dynasties. Thus, the study of Ci-poetry in Ming Dynasty expanded its scope of exploration into aspects such as the tonal, lyrical and aesthetic qualities in poetry. Due to the inherent affinity between the Ci-poetry in the Southern Song Dynasty and Shi-poetry in the Song Dynasty, the poetics of Ci-poetry in the Ming Dynasty …

The Construction Of Refined-Vulgar Ci-Poetry System In The Northern Song Dynasty With Liu Yong As A Benchmark, Licheng Xu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Before the Song Dynasty, Ci-poetry was a form of ballad singing, often having an impromptu nature, and therefore it was regarded as a genre of lowbrow literature. Later, scholar-officials in the Northern Song Dynasty were attracted by the new form and tried to make it a literary form to entertain their taste and talent. During the process of legitimization and canonization, Liu Yong, as a representative popular Ci-poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, played a uniquely important role. Scholar-officials identified vulgarity as the characteristic of Liu's ci-poems as they mostly belonged to the popular lowbrow lyrics. The scholar-officials then benchmarked …

The Gestation Of Foundational Meaning In Aesthetical Activities, Yuan Zhu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In anthropological aesthetic studies, aesthetic activities in primitive society are usually part of others activities. Aesthetic studies show that art, due to its intuitive nature, is foundational in human practice, and that aesthetic activities are not attached to other activities but underlie all the activities. The conflict between the two theoretical approaches has raised questions which concern whether the original, fundamental and authentic value of aesthetic activities is applicable to primitive society, and whether the primitive people is a people without aesthetic activities. Therefore, there is a need to substantiate the original gestation of the foundational meaning of aesthetic activities …

The Tool And The Entity: The Language Philosophy In Zhuangzi's Aesthetics, Xianglin Yan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Zhuangzi's critique on language exhibits a deep contradiction in his thinking as he considered language to be both a tool and an entity, despite its dialectical nature. Language is a type of poetic spiritual existence and contributes to the production of culture, and the text of Zhuangzi illustrates Zhuangzi's poetic view of language.

Arabic Language Acquisition Video Materials, David M. Duerden, Dr. Kirk Belnap

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project built on a National Middle East Language Resource Center (NMELRC) project to provide BYU students, and eventually students around the country, with audio and video exposure to native Arabic speakers and everyday-life situations in the Middle East.

God As One Who “Inhabiteth Eternity” An Examination Of Isaiah 57:15, Jacob Rennaker, Dr. Donald Parry

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The language that people use conveys a myriad of meaning. In examining the language an author uses, for example, one can discover his or her understanding of a subject. This holds true for the author of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 57:15 contains a curious phrase that is used nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Here, God is referred to as One who “inhabiteth eternity.” These words imply a certain understanding of deity. Traditionally, this verse has been interpreted as a metaphor regarding God’s kingship and His transcendence. In a careful examination of the phraseology and context of the verse, …

找 老 家: Documentary Filmmaking And The Search For Chinese Heritage, Gloria Jean Gong, Dr. Matthew Christensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Due to systematic gender discrimination and the “one-child” policy, the overwhelming majority of Chinese orphans adopted by American families are female. Families choose different ways of familiarizing their adopted daughters with “Chinese culture” and making them aware of their “Chinese heritage.” As a third-generation Chinese-American, I was interested in using participatory filmmaking as a method to examine the issues of identity and cultural heritage that arose as families with adopted Chinese daughters took them back to visit China for the first time.

Chinese Folk Songs: Unrecorded Voices In History, Karin Mei Li Inouye, Dr. Dana Bourgerie

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the village of Taicang, a small dirt road community tucked between a Ming dynasty capitol and a famous silk city, nationally acclaimed composer Gao Xuefeng combs the countryside rich in rice and fish for century old folk tunes around which he weaves a tapestry of music based on simple, yet haunting melodies. Along the Silk Road where Central Asia meets China, professor Zhou Jie leaves his local home in Kashgar to trek into the harsh mountain climes and the vast reaches of shifting desert to record ancient mukamus—folk tunes—found also in Central Asia, the Middle East, and northern Africa. …

Ticket To Salvation: Nichiren Buddhism In Miyazawa Kenji’S 'Night On The Galactic Railroad' (Ginga Tetsudō No Yoru), Jon P. Holt

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation focuses on the Night on the Galactic Railroad, a classic Japanese novel written by Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933).

Following His Shadow: The Haiku Of Sant¨Ka, Keith Johnson, Dr. Van C. Gessel

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Apart from an all too brief period of popularity during the early ’80’s, the poetry of Taneda Sant©ka (1882-1940) has languished in relative anonymity. He has yet to enjoy the household-name status of fellow haijin like Bash©, IkkyÅ, Ry©kan, et al. This strikes me as inexcusable and yet somehow expected. The life of Sant©ka was defined more by its defeat, rejection, and loneliness than by its triumph, acceptance or fellowship. What amazed me when I first came upon his work (and continues to amaze me now) was how, despite alcoholicism, poverty, malnutrition, suicidal dementia, emotional desolation and loneliness so sharp …