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25 March 2013, Volume 33 Issue 2 Previous Issue    Next Issue

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The Education of Teachers of Chinese and the Spirit of University: On Xu Zhongyu's Literary Theory Lu Xiaoguang 2013, 33 (2):  4-9.  Abstract ( 902 )   PDF (540KB) ( 89 )   The uniqueness of Xu Zhongyu's literary theory lies in his people-oriented thought of "teacher education". The first remarkable characteristic is its concern with issues specific to the cultivation of the grass-root talents. Xu Zhongyu's literary theory enters into the field of College Chinese because of the implicit reason that he reinterprets the classical meaning of "normal" to relate with the spirit of university. Xu Zhongyu's literary theory and his long career in Chinese normal education may provide new inspiration to establish the spirit of university different from Western concept of "normal" education. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Prof. Xu Zhongyu's Researches into Literary Theory Wang Qinghua 2013, 33 (2):  10-14.  Abstract ( 748 )   PDF (453KB) ( 80 )   This paper tries to delineate Prof. Xu Zhongyu's contribution to the establishment of Chinese literary theory. Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, Prof. Xu Zhongyu has been making efforts to approach literary theory with an aim to establish the discipline of Chinese theory of literature and art which may be grounded on traditional Chinese literary criticism. His theorization has covered such significant issues as the value of literature, the artistic principles of literary creativity and criticism, and the national characteristics of literary theory. His insightful observations and investigations have constructed a unique research framework that bases on literariness, centers around theoretical questions, and suspends the systematic theory. This research framework displays Prof. Xu's scholarly personality, academic spirit and masterful methodology. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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A Critical Survey of Xu Zhongyu's Theory of Literature around the Anti-Japanese War Wang Xuezhen 2013, 33 (2):  15-23.  Abstract ( 810 )   PDF (841KB) ( 60 )   Around the Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945), Xu Zhongyu wrote much in the area of literary theory which covered literary criticism, national literature, literary language, etc. His essays were positive in the value pursuit and methodologically scientific in the methodology, and they still have academic vitality and enlightenment. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Boat as Polis: Some Issues of the Political Philosophy in Early Greek Poetry Liu Xiaofeng 2013, 33 (2):  24-32.  Abstract ( 919 )   PDF (839KB) ( 118 )   The early Greek lyric poetry is not only about love or love story, but also responds to the revolution of the 6th century B.C. It reflects the fundamental experiences of the transition from aristocracy to democracy, which is the focus of this paper when examining the poems of Solon, Alcaeus and Theogenis. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Political Position of Poets in the Polis: An Interpretation of Pindar's Eighth Pythian Lou Lin 2013, 33 (2):  33-40.  Abstract ( 1085 )   PDF (733KB) ( 82 )   As the greatest lyric poet in ancient Greece, Pindar achieved the peak of the Greek traditional choral poems through his beauteous odes and his teaching about aristocratic moral teaching. This paper takes the use of the first person, a conventional technique in his odes, as the starting point to approach the odes. T he paper tries to analyze the poet's political position in the polis (city) through a detailed reading of Lines 60-80 of Pindar's "Eighth Pythian Ode." In this section, the first person and the second person are employed in the pray to Apollo, the claim for the harmonious character of the poetry in a polis, and the appeal for poetic teaching to the aristocrats. The paper argues that the use of different persons in the poem constitutes a measured political order, while the poet and his odes composed under gods’ justice take the centre of this order . References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Between Mythos and Philosophia Wang Keping 2013, 33 (2):  41-50.  Abstract ( 1219 )   PDF (1007KB) ( 108 )   Chronologically, mythos (myth) came into being before philosophia (philosophy). Mythos tends to make people "wonder" and "think" whereas philosophia attempts to work out the meaning of this wondering. Thus it leads to a process of endless exploration. This being the case, philomythos is in a way like philosophos. In other words, he who loves myths is somewhat like a philosopher who loves wisdom and pursues truth. Plato himself is not merely a myth-lover but a myth-maker, and he therefore develops a dialogue-based philosophy saturated with poetic wisdom. It is through the interaction between mythos and philosophia that mythos becomes rationalized through philosophical logos while philosophia becomes intuitionalized through mythic thinking. Thereby what is discussed in Plato's dialogues has got considerably deepened and reinforced. As is discerned, Plato's philosophy demonstrates a unique style and speculative art in the created, transformed, and traditional types of myths employed in his writings per se. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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An Exposition of Zhu Xi's "Preface to Annotations to The Book of Songs" Zhang Hui 2013, 33 (2):  51-56.  Abstract ( 1484 )   PDF (524KB) ( 102 )   Zhu Xi (1130-1200) had written three prefaces to The Book of Songs. His "Preface to Annotations to The Book of Songs" was not intended for the book it prefaced but for the aborted earlier book Collected Interpretations of The Book of Songs. This preface was not the later "Prefaces to The Book of Songs," which were generally referred to as The Bigger Preface and The Smaller Preface. The present paper takes "Preface to Annotations" as a transitional critical text in Zhu Xi's thought and tries to explore the dialogic relationship between this preface and the Bigger and Smaller Prefaces. The paper argues that three aspects can be seen in internal change in Zhu Xi's thought concerning the criticism of The Book of Songs. First, the interpretive perspective of human nature (instinct and desire) was placed before the perspectives of social mores and moral teaching maintained by Han dynasty Confucian scholars. Secondly, the perspective of Neo-Confucianism is taking over the perspective of Confucian classic hermeneutics. Finally, Zhu Xi highlighted the tradition of interpreting poetry with poetry and tasting the literariness of the text, and therefore empowered the reader with the interpretative right. The paper claims that the above mentioned changes of critical perspective found in Zhu Xi's "Preface to Annotations to The Book of Songs" imply a shift from political interpretation to literary interpretation in the hermeneutics of The Book of Songs. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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"Return What is China’s to China": A Contrapuntal Reading of "the Veiled and the Unveiled" and "Fu, Bi, Xing" Luo Gang 2013, 33 (2):  57-66.  Abstract ( 1072 )   PDF (979KB) ( 67 )   Wang Guowei's theory about the poetic states of being "veiled (ge) and unveiled (buge)" derives from Schopenhauer's distinction between concept and intuition as well as the traditional dualistic antithesis of rationality and emotion of modern Western aesthetics. This paper argues that Wang's theory is displaced from and contradicted with the critical paradigm of "Fu-Bi-Xing (straightforward narrative, explicit comparison, implicit comparison)" in Chinese ancient poetics. Due to this displacement and contradiction, Wang Guowei regards Bi and Xing as "the veiled". The rupture inherent in Wang Guowei's poetics has long been overlooked and his theory of "artistic conception" has been treated as a fusion of Chinese and Western aesthetics. Moreover, critics have utilized the Western poetic categories such as "image" to interpret and reconstruct Chinese ancient poetics, claiming that it is a "modern interpretation" of Chinese ancient poetics. This methodology overshadows and oppresses some of the most significant spirits and values in traditional poetics and thus requires some serious reflections on our part. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Neo-Confucianism's Premises Facing Aesthetic Questions: Art, Ethics and the Way in Zhou Dunyi's Thought Maud M'Bondjo 2013, 33 (2):  67-76.  Abstract ( 1385 )   PDF (644KB) ( 54 )   Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073) is commonly considered as the founder of the Confucian revival during the Song Dynasty (976-1279). In his moral treatise, Penetrating the Book of Changes, Zhou Dunyi clearly distinguishes "art (艺)" from "reality/truth (实)," and claims that the role of "expression (文)" is to express the Sage Kings' Way (圣王之道). The claim leads us to ask to what extent "art" helps along ethics in the restoration of the Way and whether there is a philosophy of art in Zhou Dunyi's moral discourse. The paper observes that cheng (诚 sincerity) is a central concept in Zhou Dunyi's thought and plays a key role in his apprehension of the Way. The paper then discusses "cheng" as an aesthetic concept on the basis that moral cultivation implies an artistic practice. The paper proceeds to discuss the influence of Zhou Dunyi on later Neo-Confucian masters and whether Zhou had established the premises of a major intellectual movement towards the aesthetics question. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Word Order in the Collective Titles for Authors in the Tang Dynasty and its Implications for Literary Criticism Luo Shijin 2013, 33 (2):  77-84.  Abstract ( 223 )   PDF (751KB) ( 98 )   It is a common phenomenon to group writers under a collective title in the history of literature and literary research, especially in the Tang Dynasty. This phenomenon, as well as how to group the authors and in what order to call them, is meaningful to literary criticism. As the collective titles are highly acronymized or very abstract, the process of de-acronymizing and origin-seeking becomes an approach of interpretation, during which the re-examination of the original authors’ achievements may help to promote the process of canonization. Collective titles have different significance and value in the history of Chinese literature, and some authors have entered the mainstream literature and become representative of a period, while some elapsed into oblivion. No matter what reasons may lie behind, the phenomenon of grouping different authors with a collective title is worth academic attention. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Compilation Objectives of Xiao Tong's Selections of Refined Literature: from the Perspective of Wei Zhao's "On Gaming" Yang Xun 2013, 33 (2):  85-93.  Abstract ( 971 )   PDF (844KB) ( 93 )   Wei Zhao's (204-273) "On Gaming" had not drawn much attention before the Kingdom of Liang (502-557), probably because its tenets were at odds with the social mores promoted by Emperor Wu of Liang. Wei's text was included into the Selections of Refined Literature because on the one hand it appealed to Xiao Tong's personal taste as he wanted to express his distain toward gaming and on the other hand Xiao Tong hoped to convey a warning to some officials and to caution and dissuade his own father. This paper tries to demonstrate through the above mentioned example that specific reasons should be discerned when investigating the compilation objectives of Selections of Refined Literature. Only by exploring the historical, political and cultural specificities can researchers make sound arguments about Xiao Tong's complicated compilation objectives. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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A Critical Investigation into the Evolution of Zhu Gongdiao's Musical Narrative Scheme Sheng Zhimei 2013, 33 (2):  94-102.  Abstract ( 930 )   PDF (794KB) ( 125 )   Zhu Gongdiao ("All-Mode Tune") is a composite musical narrative art, which shows as singing various modal tunes to various keys, and it was the popular folk opera form in the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties. Musical narrative scheme of All-Mode Tune develops from decreasing use of keys to increasing use of modal tunes, and alongside this development is the change from lyrics-centred form to operatic form. As a folk art form, All-Mode Tune succeeded the ancient "Tanci" (chanting lyrics) after the "bianwen" (transformative text) and preceded the drama in the present form. Therefore, All-Mode Tune was associated with the two performance space of the circular chanting space and the stage, which evolved into the operatic form of drama as the inevitable result of the developing musical system. Musical scheme is not an external form of the All-Mode Tune but also an indispensible means of its narrative, and its evolution is its way of existence. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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An Anthropological Reflection on Lu Xun's Old Tales Retold Liu Lili 2013, 33 (2):  103-111.  Abstract ( 1293 )   PDF (879KB) ( 95 )   This paper takes an interdisciplinary perspective and tries to present an anthropological reflection on the stories in Lu Xun's Old Tales Retold. For Lu Xun, the stories were important, especially the old stories in the ancient classics, and he creatively rewrote the classical stories to get across what he wanted to convey. In his rewriting, Lu Xun combined materials from many classics so as to make the retold stories take on artistic features of creative stories. Lu Xun's Old Tales Retold merged well into the development of fiction writing in Chinese literary history, which evolved from the antique myth and tale, the pre-Qin fables, the legendary tales of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the novel of Ming and Qing Dynasties to the modern times. Lu Xun's Old Tales Retold was written in the style of legendary story and he experimented in characterization, plot, diction, and narrative time-space sequence in narrative. From the perspective of meaning gestation, Old Tales Retold shows unique textual features which lead to the opening up of the interpretative horizon, the expanding of the audience to all ages, and multiple dimensions of signification. These methods of meaning gestation are essentially postmodern in nature. By way of these methods, Lu Xun demonstrated in Old Tales Retold that story- telling and listening (writing and reading) is an inbuilt desire in human beings and that story has always been the vehicle for man's need for meaning. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Zhu Guangqian and Expressionism: An Alternative Way to Bridge the Chinese and Western Aesthetics Dai Xun 2013, 33 (2):  112-120.  Abstract ( 1057 )   PDF (873KB) ( 104 )   The paper claims that the duality mode of Sino-Western comparative aesthetics research and the en vogue mentality in prevailing in China hinders our understanding of the Westernization process of Chinese aesthetics from multiple perspectives. One important thread of development that has been neglected is Zhu Guangqian's expressionist aesthetics. Influenced by the dominating lyrical tradition in Chinese poetics and the Western expressionism prevalent in the early 20th century, Zhu found it hard to buy the mimetic theory in the Western tradition and the Marxist epistemological aesthetics born out of it. Instead, Zhu developed his own expressionist aesthetics by integrating the Western expressionism with Chinese concept of aesthetic vision (yijing). The paper proposes that an adjustment in the understanding of the framework of contemporary Chinese aesthetics should be made so as to redefine the ideologically cloaked multi-dimensional aesthetics in contemporary China. The paper suggests that the redefinition could start with the example of Li Zehou's turn from objective social aesthetics to aesthetics of praxis by renaming Zhu's theory as expressionist aesthetics and Cai Yi's epistemologically focused aesthetics as representational aesthetics. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Paradigm Shift in Literary Theory Research Dai Dengyun 2013, 33 (2):  121-133.  Abstract ( 936 )   PDF (1326KB) ( 87 )   The paper claims that researches on literary theory in contemporary China have been restricted in intellectual horizon and displays a tendency of homogeneity and one-dimensionality, which in turn results in a path that depends on the novelty and change. The author argues that one fundamental way to offset this dependence is to return to the origin and explore the source. This paper tries to redefine the problem consciousness and intellectual horizon and re-clarify the methodological path of literary theory research in order to promote the interventional nature of literary theory research and the mergence between theory and thoughts in the contemporary civilization transformation. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Two Narratives of the History of Avant-Garde Poetry after the "Misty Poetry" Jiang Yuqin 2013, 33 (2):  134-144.  Abstract ( 913 )   PDF (1045KB) ( 62 )   In the 1990s, the avant-garde poets had a very strong consciousness of literary history, and some had even kept a detailed record of creative activities. While some proclaimed that they were writing for literary history, there were more poets who, unsatisfied with the aesthetic norms and rules advocated by the scholastic critics, would engage themselves into the critical practice by writing essays, editing poetry anthologies and compiling collections of critical essays on poetry. In the 1990s' avant-garde poetic circle, the poets managed to be the masters of their own poetry, and their active engagement into the theoretical exploration and the intervention of poetic practice into the literary history helped to mould the general framework of contemporary avant-garde poetry. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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From "和" to There: Marxist Hermeneutics with Chinese Characteristics Josef Gregory Mahoney 2013, 33 (2):  145-164.  Abstract ( 1171 )   PDF (1452KB) ( 58 )   We begin by synthesizing Karl Marx's historical periods qua modes of production with Michel Foucault's epistemological periodizations — epistemes, which we then combine with Fredric Jameson's work on ideologemes. Jameson's acknowledged weakness is a failure to address those positive if not utopian elements that might be instrumentally valuable for deconstructing or disassembling ideologemes in the course of historical progress. We then argue that such alternatives would be, ideally, concrete universals (具体的普遍), and would be both trans-epistemic and trans-historical. We then provide several reasons why it seems reasonable to search for the concrete universal par excellence within Chinese linguistic and philosophical traditions. For a number of reasons, including Walter Benjamin's ideation of the "dialectical image," we settle on the Chinese concept of harmony (和) as the ideal example. This brings us to an interesting point. It turns out that the ideologeme par excellence of the current official Chinese thought and propaganda is also 和. We argue this is no coincidence, and, it opens up a number of critical and positive discussions, particularly on the edge of the current episteme, i.e., when we are, arguably, on the edge of a new epistemic shift. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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"Heaven's Scheme" and Randomness from the Perspective of Comparative Literary Theories Huang Mingfen 2013, 33 (2):  165-172.  Abstract ( 1055 )   PDF (717KB) ( 82 )   In classical Chinese literary theories, "Tianji" (Heaven's scheme) as a categorical concept has its root in Taoist concept of inspiration, focusing on the conditions of timing, opportunities and changes in natural existence, and it emphasizes on the artists' reaction in response to the changing circumstances. The concept of "randomness" as applied in the Western theories of digital art, comes from the mathematical theory on probability, which focuses on the contingency of artifact and takes it as the very opportunity of exploring ideas. Neither the heaven's scheme nor randomness falls within the conceptual category of pure probability, but they reflect the human efforts to grasp the inevitable through the accidental. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Chinese Images in English Poetry: A Comparative Reading between Literary Fictionalization and Western Consciousness Zeng Fanjian, Liu Hanbo 2013, 33 (2):  173-177.  Abstract ( 1380 )   PDF (509KB) ( 53 )   English poetry has a longstanding tradition in creating images about China. The images, from the perspective of literary anthropology by Wolfgang Iser, cannot be freed from interrelated unity of opposites between fictionalization, imagination and facts. While fictionalization and imagination are essential to poetry, their foundation and destination have to be the facts about China and the subjectivity of the Western. If native Chinese poetics is applied into a comparative reading of the images of China in English poetry, especially by focusing on the subject-object relationship shown in literary fictionalization and the Western consciousness through an empirical study based on linguistic data in the poetry, the essential features of the issues can be exposed. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Media Ontology: The Philosophical Basis of the Research of New Media Literature and Art Shan Xiaoxi 2013, 33 (2):  178-191.  Abstract ( 1081 )   PDF (1386KB) ( 73 )   To construct media ontology is to lay a philosophical foundation for the research into new media literature and art. Media ontology, compared with media epistemology and media ousiaology, is a post-metaphysical media philosophy grounded on the theories of modern ontology, and the theoretical context is constructed by the theoretical reflections from the perspective of media philosophy and the studies on the transition from classic ontology to modern ousiaology. The three illogically interconnected propositions of media ontology are "to be is to inform," "the medium is information" and "media is being." In this light, being can be interpreted through information activities of existents, and all information is mediated and no information is self-contained and exists in itself. When existents function to intermediate in such activities as intermediation, collaboration, containment, configuration and production, they become media and show in the relations of mediating existence. When presence and language are mediating activities, they help to construct the important expansive way of existence. Media are essentially the field in which existence becomes, and existence is the activity in which the existent is mediated. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Intellectual Trajectory of Marxist Literary Theory from Abstraction to Concreteness Long Diyong 2013, 33 (2):  192-199.  Abstract ( 900 )   PDF (790KB) ( 87 )   Marx did not take literature and art as isolated phenomena but approached literary phenomena with roughly the same way of thinking as he investigates other social phenomena. The general intellectual trajectory in his investigation followed the path from abstraction to concreteness, which exhibited in literary studies as the following three aspects. First, writers should observe the society and its age from historical point of view, and create typical character reflecting tendency of the age and social nature. Secondly, characterization in writings should demonstrate Shakespeare's realism instead of Schiller’s method so as to avoid turning the character into a mere mouthpiece of the spirit of the time. Marxist literary theory is not partial emphasis on some aspect of abstraction and concreteness, but promotes organic integration and dialectic unity of the two. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Arendt's Aesthetics of the Political and Its Modern Politico-Philosophical Implications Li Hecheng 2013, 33 (2):  200-209.  Abstract ( 1286 )   PDF (1028KB) ( 59 )   The love for the world leads to the hatred of the world's evil; the hatred of the claustrophobia from the evil in the private leads to the passionately exploration into the human’s common conditions in the public. Arendt found her solution to the modern political predicament in the performance of virtuosity, which transcends "making" and material production. The transcendence aims to implant into the increasingly perfected political communications the ontological significance of productivity and production relations, while the performance is an experience of modernity (i.e. the aesthetic) in an effort to undermine the will to good and remove the desire for material. The gestation of judgment, as the formation of reflective judgment, imagination, common sense of aesthetics, etc. is the generation of our communicative coexistence, and a form of freedom of integration of the individual's private space into the whole. In Arendt's communicative politics, action and judgment should always come together, and participants and spectators should not be separated, and this is the implication of Arendt's political aesthetics of communications to the modern isolated world. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On the New Media Culture and Production of Space: In the Perspective of Binary Relation between Space and Place Zhu Jun 2013, 33 (2):  210-216.  Abstract ( 1292 )   PDF (668KB) ( 52 )   One eternal issue in the study of space is the binary relation of space and place, which is reshaped in the age of new media by the mimic culture. The production of space observes the logic of consumerism while it also refreshes the belief in localism. This profound confliction between space and place is manifested in fans culture, cyber subculture, fundamentalism, and even cyber-terrorism, thus it attributes to an increasingly serious global culture of risk. At the present age of new media, the space crisis can be approached mainly through the simple strategies of localism, everyday discourse and utopianism, which points to the long way to "the space of hope." References | Related Articles | Metrics