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The Narrative Function And Stylistic Significance Of The Official Papers In The Tang-Dynasty Fictions, Guofu Cheng, Liang He
The Narrative Function And Stylistic Significance Of The Official Papers In The Tang-Dynasty Fictions, Guofu Cheng, Liang He
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Tang-Dynasty fictions comprise of writings in different styles and of different genres, and official papers take up a considerable part. Official papers have prescribed function and specific purpose, and they can be divided into two categories. One category includes the official papers that go to the upper levels, which may be used in both the officialdom and the religious circle. The other category includes the official papers that are sent to the lower levels in the officialdom. Official papers in the Tang fictions function in two aspects. On the one hand, they perform the narrative functions in terms of theme …
Four Characteristics Of Ancient Chinese Aesthetics, Fa Zhang
Four Characteristics Of Ancient Chinese Aesthetics, Fa Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The paper maintains that four characteristics can be observed about Chinese ancient aesthetics. The first one is concerned with the Chinese view of the cosmos, the second with Chinese view of the human world, while the third is concerned with the fact that Chinese theoretical norm is developed through a culture emphasizing on its totality instead of differentiality, the fourth with the cultural variety during the historical development.
On Liu Xizai's Paradox About The Exhaustibility Of Meaning, Xingchuan Tao
On Liu Xizai's Paradox About The Exhaustibility Of Meaning, Xingchuan Tao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Liu Xizai in his General Principles of Arts proposed a paradoxical idea about exhausting the inexhaustibility of meaning with the inexhaustible, and this paper claims that his idea points at the fundamental function of aesthetic creativity. The ideas developed in Liu's book cover two sides. On the one hand, the book explicates the concept of the inexhaustibility of meaning from three aspects: the infiniteness of the macro and the micro dimensions, the incompatibility between language and meaning, and the infiniteness in the finiteness. On the other hand, the book explains the approaches to exhaust the inexhaustible from three aspects: writing …
The Concept Of "Tianji" In Ancient Chinese Literary Criticism Under The Perspective Of Phenomenology, Jing Zhang
The Concept Of "Tianji" In Ancient Chinese Literary Criticism Under The Perspective Of Phenomenology, Jing Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
This paper attempts to reflect the concept of "tianji (Heaven's secret)" from the perspective of phenomenology. It claims that "tianji" is an important concept in literary creation theory, and it maintains that the understanding of the concept should focus on the following five elements: 1) the accidental moment of spirituality in the aesthetic subject, 2) artistic vitality, 3) the intrinsic aesthetic formation, 4) the aesthetic intention within the aesthetic subject, and 5) the secret power of universe and nature. The paper claims that quite a few concepts in phenomenology can be used to illuminate our understanding of "tianji." The theory …
A Study Of Tan Ying's Reception Of And Reaction To The Zhexi School, Wei Xu
A Study Of Tan Ying's Reception Of And Reaction To The Zhexi School, Wei Xu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
In the Qing dynasty, besides the Schools of Zhexi and Changzhou, Guangdong poets had also played an important role in the construction of ci poetics, among which Tan Ying, with his 177 Quatrains on Ci-Poems, could be considered as one of the most systematic and sophisticated critic-poets. Heavily influenced by the School of Zhexi, Tan Ying gave prominence to the exquisite and elegant nature of ci-poetry while also highlighting the expression of true emotion and personal integrity in ci-poetry as a rectifying measure for the desolateness and the overindulgence in rhetoric of Zhexi poetics. This paper analyzes Tan Ying's critical …
Investigating Into The Naming Of "Expository Preface" As A Form Of Classical Chinese Generic Criticism, Chengxue Wu
Investigating Into The Naming Of "Expository Preface" As A Form Of Classical Chinese Generic Criticism, Chengxue Wu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Some ancient literary anthologies in China usually carry in the contents or before the main body of a volume a preface that introduces the generic evolution, and there has no commonly agreed name for this particular form of writing. The paper proposes that the name of "expository preface (xuti序题)" should be applied to it so that the research into Chinese literary genre could be conducted in a more systematic and self-conscious way. "Expository preface" is a unique and important genre of criticism in ancient Chinese literary history, and it gestates in Han Dynasty, takes its form in Jin Dynasty, and …
On The Formation Of Appreciative Criticism In Ancient China, Chunqing Li
On The Formation Of Appreciative Criticism In Ancient China, Chunqing Li
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Appreciative criticism is a form of practical criticism from the perspective of appreciative judgment, and a literary criticism activity on the basis of aesthetic taste and emotional experience. As a form of literary criticism, it emerged in West Han Dynasty and matured in East Han Dynasty in China, with Liu Xiang, Yang Xiong and Liu Xin being three important figures in the developmental process. Appreciative criticism was formed in the socio-historical context in which the change of taste on the part of imperial officialdom and scholar-officials was a key factor. The paper argues that an examination of the historical formation …
On The Intervention Of Literary Means In Painting And Its Boundary, Xiaoli Wang
On The Intervention Of Literary Means In Painting And Its Boundary, Xiaoli Wang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
With Chinese equivalent dictum of "Ut Pictura Poesis" as a guiding principle, literarization became a trend in Chinese painting, especially in the literati painting. Traditional literary rhetoric methods such as metaphor and symbolism were appropriated into painting so as to express personal sentiments. The inscriptions on the painting expand the planar painterly world, and strengthen the expressiveness of the painting. The intervention of literary methods in imagistic thinking is subjected to the artistic autonomy of paintings, and painting as a form of plastic art have their own aesthetic objectives that determine the boundary of the application of literary methods.
Ouyang Xiu's Research OfBook Of Changes And The Turn To Classical Style Prose, Gang Cheng
Ouyang Xiu's Research OfBook Of Changes And The Turn To Classical Style Prose, Gang Cheng
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Ou Yangxiu had been a pioneer both as a writer and a scholar of Chinese Classics. The study on Chinese Classics in Song Dynasty was uniquely important for it represented a turn to the classical way, and the Study in Song Dynasty was established against the Study in Han Dynasty. During the process, Ouyang Xiu was both the initiator and promoter with great achievements. Characteristics shown in Ouyang Xiu's style in Chinese Classics study may be summarized to be skeptical, plain, practical and laconic. Meanwhile, Ouyang Xiu had also integrated his style in China Classics study into his prose writing …
A Study Of The Composition OfThe Journey To The West From The Perspective Of Western Literary Theory, Hongbo Zhu
A Study Of The Composition OfThe Journey To The West From The Perspective Of Western Literary Theory, Hongbo Zhu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The study of the composition process of The Journey to the West has come to a plight. On the one hand, the established periodization of the composition has been challenged; on the other hand, the new historical resources are not accepted. As a result, the canonization mechanism of The Journey has not been clearly defined. This paper tries to introduce into the study of The Journey contemporary Western literary theory and takes it as a necessary selection. The concepts of intertextuality and collage may be used to examine the internal compositional mechanism of The Journey from the idea and method …
On Du Fu's Reception Of Yu Xin's Poetry And The Implications To Du's Poetic Theory, Yao Zhong
On Du Fu's Reception Of Yu Xin's Poetry And The Implications To Du's Poetic Theory, Yao Zhong
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Among the influences Du Fu had received from The Book of Poetry to Six Dynasties, Yu Xin from Southern and Northern Dynasties enlightened Du Fu the most in his poetry writing. Du Fu evaluated Yu Xin's poetry to be "fresh" and "mature" and his observation became generally accepted among later critics. Du Fu's reception of Yu Xin underwent a complicate internal process, and Yu Xin's stylistic change from "freshness" to "maturity" became fundamental in Du Fu's epitomized poetic development.
On The "Flavour" In Poetry Commentaries In Song Dynasty, Aiping Huang, Xun Sun
On The "Flavour" In Poetry Commentaries In Song Dynasty, Aiping Huang, Xun Sun
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The concept of "flavour" develops into an important category of Chinese ancient poetics, during the process of which poetry commentaries in Song Dynasty played an important role in enriching its connotation. The paper divides "flavour" into two categories in light of its application into genres. In one category, flavour is used to comment on the times and poetry style in general. In another category, it is used to comment on specific texts from four aspects of reason, emotion, context and object, and investigate its connotation. The paper has also explored the aesthetic characteristics of "flavour" from the perspective of its …
The Sound Of The Study Of "Literature": A Survey Of Issues Of Sound In Ancient Liteary Texts And Studies On Texts, Yinchi Chen
The Sound Of The Study Of "Literature": A Survey Of Issues Of Sound In Ancient Liteary Texts And Studies On Texts, Yinchi Chen
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Literature develops from the oral to the written, and ancient texts were not only written for silent study reading but also for sound interpretive reading. The paper exemplifies the different aspects of sound in Chinese classical literary texts, with particular attention to Tongcheng School's investigations into the sound issues in Qing Dynasty. The paper proceeds to delineate the possible relations between the sound issues in prose and in verse, and hopes to provide an example to the interplay between genres.
On The Rationality And Casual Criticism In Poetry Commentaries In Song Dynasty, Shanshan Xie, Qiaobin Deng
On The Rationality And Casual Criticism In Poetry Commentaries In Song Dynasty, Shanshan Xie, Qiaobin Deng
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Casual commentaries and casual criticism are a prevalent mode of literary criticism at the turn from Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty. Casual criticism developed into poetry commentaries whose contents centered around poem appreciation, and evolved into a mode of literary criticism that was characterized by random writings, with Liuyi Poetry Commentaries as its representative. Poetry commentary places criticism into appreciation, and by emphasizing on historical research on and critical examination of the text, it explores the poetic principles in commenting on dictions and exerts a profound influence on the ancient Chinese literary criticism.
Three Arguments Relating The Study Of Ci-Poetry, Zhongyi Xia
Three Arguments Relating The Study Of Ci-Poetry, Zhongyi Xia
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Chinese ci-poetry as a different poetic form from shi-poetry has its distinctive aesthetic characteristics and a unique pattern of stylistic innovation. A full understanding of this claim is essential to a historical analysis and evaluation of the theorectical commentaries on ci-poetry from the ancient famous scholars. The famous claim that ci-poetry is but shi-poetry set to music can be investigated from the perspective of "verifying the music from the lyrics," and its legitimacy lies on the one hand in the aesthetic sentiments and the life-disposition complexity in lyrics-music complex and on the other hand in various anthologies, commentaries, reading notes …
Investigating The Connotations Of The Genre Of Paixie In Ancient Chinese Poetry, Yi Wang
Investigating The Connotations Of The Genre Of Paixie In Ancient Chinese Poetry, Yi Wang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
This paper analyzes and delineates the different definitions of Paixie as a literary genre through examining the critical and creative works (mainly poetry) from ancient Chinese literature. Through tracing the original connotation of Paixie and examining the various definitions from later periods, the paper points out that paixie as a genre not only refers to the entertaining forms such as satires and parodies with high-brow and low-brow styles but also includes miscellaneous writing of varied forms and playful writings such as palindromes or names of herbs. From the works by such famous and refined poets as Du Fu, it can …
Potential Of Poetic Dialogue: Guo Xiangzheng's Innovative Appropriation Of Li Bai, Tingting Zhao
Potential Of Poetic Dialogue: Guo Xiangzheng's Innovative Appropriation Of Li Bai, Tingting Zhao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Guo Xiangzheng (1035-1113) was a prolific poet of the Song Dynasty who was hailed as a protege of poetry and whose incredible imagination resembled that of Li Bai. Unfortunately,many literary scholars have oversimplified Guo's work as a mere derivative of Li Bai's. This paper intends to renew scholarly interest in Guo's poetry by illustrating his innovation and sophistication in utilizing Li Bai's poems and style. Through his use of different poetic devices, Guo creates varied dialogues with his audience across a broad span of time in order to achieve political and personal purposes. During his years between nineteen and twenty-six, …
ShouldCi-Poems Be Included InComplete Tang Poems, Yufeng Xie
ShouldCi-Poems Be Included InComplete Tang Poems, Yufeng Xie
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Ideally speaking, the compilation of Complete Tang and Five Dynasties Shi-Poems could have been done in parallel with that of Complete Tang and Five Dynasties Ci-Poems, so that all the rhymed literature could be collected. However, such an endeavor requires an operational distinction between shi-poem and ci-poem. The common understanding to the distinction between them is built on the musical style or yanlue, but due to the scarcity of music data of Tang and Five Dynasties, it is hard to deny subjectivity and random in practice when distinguishing between shi-poems and ci-poems. The result is that very often shi-poems go …
A Buddhist Inquiry Into The Phrase Bunkyo Of Kūkai'sBunkyo Hifuron, Shaoxin Shi
A Buddhist Inquiry Into The Phrase Bunkyo Of Kūkai'sBunkyo Hifuron, Shaoxin Shi
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Kūkai,who had intended to study in Tang for 20 years, got abhiksema given by Master Huiguo and was instructed to return to Japan soon, so that he left China after two-year study to spread Tantric Buddhism. Kūkai devoted himself to exercising and spreading Buddhism and left us many Buddhist works, among which there is a book on the writing art of poems and composition, that is, the famous Bunkyo Hifuron. why did he edit such a book? Surely it shows his love of Han Culture. What's more,the uique title and structure speaks out his minds of buddhism. This article is …
Cultural Poetics And Cultural Creativity, Jinyao Shen, Jizhong Lin
Cultural Poetics And Cultural Creativity, Jinyao Shen, Jizhong Lin
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The fundamental nature of cultural creativity is to cultivate and perfect oneself, which differs from the so-called popular creative cultural industry. Cultural poetics, based on historical perspective, interdisciplinary research strategy and holistic thinking, is returning to the totality of culture, thus, opening up a vast area and great possibilities. Inherited from the Chinese traditional poetic concept — "it is by the Odes that mind is aroused", we could find that the mutual construction of literary texts and life reality is an effective way to realize cultural originality. The cultural originality of cultural poetics is fulfilled with poetic.
The Dissemination Of Translated Novels In Modern China, Dakang Chen
The Dissemination Of Translated Novels In Modern China, Dakang Chen
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Translation of foreign novels in the modern time in China plays a significant part in the transformation of Chinese novels from the classical to the modern. The majority of these novels, however, may be termed as creative translation as the translators incorporate in the translated texts a varying degree creative embellishment. Foreign novels zigzag into Chinese reading field against the reading habit developed over centuries among Chinese readers. Promoted by the booming press industry, translated novels saw a rapid development in the late Guangxu Years, which has not been given sufficient academic attention so far. While tracing the progress of …
On The Poetry Of The ChineseAnd Early Overseas Dissemination Of The Chinese Classical Poetry, Yan Wang, Yan Fang
On The Poetry Of The ChineseAnd Early Overseas Dissemination Of The Chinese Classical Poetry, Yan Wang, Yan Fang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The book On the Poetry of the Chinese was the first monograph attempting to introduce and translate Chinese classical poetry comprehensively and systematically in the history of British Sinology. With its popularity and significant influence in Europe, the book was regarded as the foundation stone on the research of the Chinese poetics in the West. It attaches great importance to the Chinese folk poems, and displays undue favor toward Western-style poems written by Chinese, it also involves some initiative and highly constructive views on Chinese epics, pastoral poetry and poetic dramas. Especially, the view that the Chinese has no epics …
Critical Explication Of "Rectified Words" InThe Literary Mind And The Carving Of Dragons, Qing Gui
Critical Explication Of "Rectified Words" InThe Literary Mind And The Carving Of Dragons, Qing Gui
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
In The Literary Mind and The Carving of Dragons, Liu Xie quoted from Explications on The Book of Changes and The Book of Documents that "zhengyan (proper words)" and "tiyao (stylistic priority)" are the essential criteria of a piece of good writing. The criterion of "zhengyan" refers to the diction, which can be defined as the appropriate use of words to express what is intended, and as an issue concerning expression, this is essentially about the ideology of the content. When "zhengyan" is combined with "stylistic priority," it may be equivalent to "air" as in "air and bone," which refers …
The Criticism On Su Shi's Poetry In Yuan Haowen's "Thirty Poems On Poetry", Huainan Liu
The Criticism On Su Shi's Poetry In Yuan Haowen's "Thirty Poems On Poetry", Huainan Liu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Yuan Haowen in his "Thirty Poems on Poetry" both confirmed Su Shih's poetic achievements and condemned Su's failure. The paper tries to delineate the reasons behind Yuan's problematic condemnations on Su Shi. Yuan's accusation of Su Shi's problems is wrong-targeted because on the one hand he attributed other poets' problem to Su Shi and on the other hand he did not distinguish between literary issues and political issues. The paper also maintains that Yuan had a limited understanding of the ideal content and practical development of "Fengya (airs and odes, the elegant)."
Reflections On The Researches To The Essence And Existence Of Song-Yuan Drama In The Past Century, Jiansen Chen, Jiali Mo
Reflections On The Researches To The Essence And Existence Of Song-Yuan Drama In The Past Century, Jiansen Chen, Jiali Mo
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
This paper is a reflective study of the researches on Song-Yuan drama's essence and existence done in the past century. It tries to define what Song-Yuan drama really is, and demonstrate how it is put on the stage and why it is staged in such a certain way. These issues have been tackled in Wang Guowei's Song-Yuan Drama History but have not been clarified since, so they have met with much misinterpretation. Three types of reasons lie behind the misinterpretation, and this has become the conundrum in the study of Chinese opera history. The first type proposes that Wang defined …
A Probe Into The Mode OfZhuanWriting InThe Literary Mind And The Carving Of Dragons, Xianpei Wang
A Probe Into The Mode OfZhuanWriting InThe Literary Mind And The Carving Of Dragons, Xianpei Wang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The paper proposes that the mode of "zhuan (chronicle)" writing should be considered as an important literary concept in ancient Chinese narratology. The mode of chronicle refers neither the commentaries on the classics as scripture nor the biographical writings, which have all been using the same Chinese character of "zhuan." The "zhuan" here refers to the literary and historical narrative mode as created in The Chronicles of Zuo and developed and matured by Sima Qian and Ban Gu. In order to resolve the difficulties in long narratives, Liu Xie proposed two narrative techniques of "zonghui (summarization)" and "quanpei (measured arrangement)" …
Personality Transformation And Writing Transference In Li Yu's Novels And Dramas, Mingqi Zhong
Personality Transformation And Writing Transference In Li Yu's Novels And Dramas, Mingqi Zhong
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The paper focuses on the relationship between Li Yu's personality transformation of personality and his writing of novels and dramas and proposes that the formation of his creative mind-state and artistic ideas originates in his psychological transformation from cynicism to comical secularity. This personality transformation, the paper demonstrates, leads the transference of Li Yu's literary mind and results in a writing as a form of existence that caters for the contemporary life in the reality with secular concerns. This indulgence in the function of entertainment of literature greatly hinders Li Yu's scope of social criticism and development of artistic innovation, …
"Nineteen Old Poems" And Metaphysics, Jiemo Zhang
"Nineteen Old Poems" And Metaphysics, Jiemo Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
"Nineteen Old Poems" represent the transformation in poetics from the study of Confucian classics to metaphysics. The authors of this group of poems lived in the turbulent age of the late Han Dynasty. "Nineteen Old Poems" express the poetics of valuing life, which could be regarded as the first sign of metaphysics. The sense of time sequence, especially a sense of the present, which corresponds to the time consciousness of metaphysics, forms the basis of such poems. This paper holds that a sense of individual loneliness and awareness is the main theme of these poems. Hence Liang Qichao's viewpoint that …
A Critical Review Of Researches Into The Poetry Of The Han, Wei And Six Dynasties In The First Half Of The 20th Century, Zhixi Qian
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The studies of the poetry of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, which have developed in a new teaching and academic system, show a combination of classical scholarship and modern approaches and therefore have some representative significance in ancient literature studies. There is a long tradition of such studies and scholars have got new discourse from such fresh literary concepts as the theory of evolution, vernacular literature and popular literature to reconstruct or interpret the history of poetry, and discovered or discussed some new facts, thus making studies of yuefu poetry attract considerable academic attention. As such studies develop, facts …
Li Bai As A Critic Of The Poetry Scene In Emperor Xuanzong's Reign, Qinghai Liu
Li Bai As A Critic Of The Poetry Scene In Emperor Xuanzong's Reign, Qinghai Liu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
As a critic, Li Bai's critical practice consists of his comments on the poetry history and on the coeval poetry writing, which are inherently related with each other. Comparatively speaking, his insights into contemporary poetry writing rarely attract researcher's attention. His achievements in this field mainly include the following. Firstly, in Gu Feng No.1 [Old Airs], Li Bai expounds his view on coeval poetry writing which reflects his general understanding and positive affirmation of it. Secondly, besides aesthetical standards such as "restoring the ancient," "airs and odes" and "rectified sound," which are the basic guidelines of his commentary on the …