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25 March 2016, Volume 36 Issue 2 Previous Issue    Next Issue

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Studies in Western Literary Theory

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Ouverture and Closure in Interpretive Contexts Joseph Margolis 2016, 36 (2):  5-19.  Abstract ( 187 )   PDF (13838KB) ( 61 )   I posit as polar extremes of interpretative practice the well-known model of closure Dante reports as guiding or governing medieval literature and the opposed model of acknowledging different degrees and kinds of openness somewhat differently supported by Umberto Eco and Roland Barthes, that suggest the limiting considerations of "the only possible right way" and the increasing tolerance and scatter, characteristic of our time, of contingently contrived responses and associations that convey a sense of relevance but are prepared to dispense with distinctions of any strong methodological sort. Contemporary interpretation, particularly in the arts, tends increasingly to favor openness; accordingly, the artworld itself tends to accommodate artworks (installations, happenings, conceptual art, for instance) that invite open interpretations suited to evolving notions of what counts as art works. It is also true, of course, that interpretation in different fields (in history, the law, the stock market, medical diagnosis, psychoanalysis) needs to answer to professional interests that require adhering to a distinct sense of evidentiary relevance (closure). In all of these cases, the sense of rigor of interpretative practice seems to be guided by our sense of the meaningful order of parts of the entire intelligible world that we draw from in fashioning pertinent kinds of interpretations regarding what falls within the middle range between the two extremes. I offer no more than an initial scan of this changing practice, with an eye to attempting a closer analysis of its notable diversity. Related Articles | Metrics

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Xunzi and Solomon on Aesthetic Responses to Loss Kathleen Higgins 2016, 36 (2):  20-30.  Abstract ( 232 )   PDF (9162KB) ( 52 )   Emotions related to loss are commonly expressed and embodied in aesthetic forms, including both enduring works such as monuments and performances, such as rituals. Xunzi, in his response to Mozi's criticism of grandiose funerals, helps to explain the value of aesthetically elaborate rituals for dealing with the emotions experienced by those who survive the death of a loved one. Xunzi's account also dovetails nicely with the concerns of Robert C. Solomon, who claims that grief, despite appearances to the contrary, is a functional emotion and that grieving is morally obligatory. Aesthetically elaborate rituals provide symbolic satisfaction of the longing for the deceased to be present, give definite shape to emotional expression, help to limit the guilt feelings of survivors, and encourage survivors as they go forward, enabling them to see their further steps as means of honoring the deceased, even in that person's absence. Related Articles | Metrics

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Cross-Cultural Recognition of Musical Expressiveness James O. Young 2016, 36 (2):  31-40.  Abstract ( 158 )   PDF (9166KB) ( 54 )   According to the resemblance theory, music owes its expressive character to its resemblance to human expressive behaviour. Discerning the expressive character of a work of music is a matter recognizing the resemblance between the music and expressive behaviour. For example, slow music is often experienced as sad and this is at least part since the speech of sad people is slow. Certain forms of expressive behaviour are found in many cultures. Consequently one would predict that members of one culture are able to discern the expressive character of music produced by members of other cultures. There is considerable empirical evidence that this is so. When listeners and makers of some music come from the same culture, the listeners are good at discerning the expressive character of the music. When the listeners and music makers come from different cultures, the listeners are not quite as good as in-group members at discerning the music's expressive character, but they are still quite good at making this determination. Part of the advantage enjoyed by listeners who belong to the music makers' culture is probably attributable to differences between languages. Sometimes the expressive character of music is attributable to its resemblance to a culture's vocal expression. This sort of expression varies dramatically from culture to culture. Related Articles | Metrics

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Iconic Consciousness: The Material Feeling of Meaning Jeffrey C. Alexander, Gao Rui, Zhao Di 2016, 36 (2):  41-51.  Abstract ( 271 )   PDF (8407KB) ( 65 )   This article suggests an iconic turn in cultural sociology. Icons can be seen, it is argued, as symbolic condensations that root social meanings in material form, allowing the abstractions of cognition and morality to be subsumed, to be made invisible, by aesthetic shape. Meaning is made iconically visible, in other words, by the beautiful, sublime, ugly, or simply by the mundane materiality of everyday life. But it is via the senses that iconic power is made. This new approach to meaning is compared with others — with materialism, semiotics, aestheticism,  moralism,  realism,  and spiritualism. Related Articles | Metrics

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An Analysis of Visual Behavior in Art Cognition Ling Chenguang 2016, 36 (2):  52-60.  Abstract ( 213 )   PDF (7399KB) ( 67 )   "Looking" is an important process through which men understand the object, know themselves and construct the world. The analysis of looking can be unfolded in the following three aspects. The first aspect takes looking as seeing. Looking is an action while seeing is a result. However, "looking" does not necessarily means "having seen." Seeing reveals the object, when the object originally not focused on is presented by visual selecting and focusing. This is a process from invisibility to visibility. The second aspect takes looking as "seeing-in" or finding out. "Seeing-in" embodies the meaning of the depth model in the visual cognition theory. It is not only a perspective but a visual presentation in which the viewer accomplishes by means of imagination and empathy. In this process, the mind's eye plays a more important role than the physical eye by capturing the potentialities, the intangible vitality and even the absence of the object. The third aspect takes looking as seeing-as or taking-for or treating-as. When an object is seen as something, the process embodies the function and mechanism of subjective projection by the viewing subject, and the process also requires the attention to the relevance between the logic of language and the level of verbal wisdom. Seeing-as leads the viewer into the world of impossible from the world of possible. Related Articles | Metrics

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Manliness and Masculinity: Towards a Distinction of Two Key Terms in Men's Studies Sui Hongsheng 2016, 36 (2):  61-69.  Abstract ( 481 )   PDF (6387KB) ( 99 )   Manliness and masculinity are two related and different concepts, and there have been inaccurate rendering into Chinese and confusing usage, but there has little study of the distinction between them in domestic academic circle. The paper sets out to distinguish the two terms from the perspectives of philosophy, anthropology, sociology and culturology, in hope of distinguishing them in terms of their etymological and cultural development, their definition, scope and criteria, their value orientation and judgment, and their construction strategies and modes of practice. The paper aims at redressing the misconceptions about manliness and shedding light on the predicaments of modern masculinity, and it also proposes reconstructing contemporary manliness. Related Articles | Metrics

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Literary Research Methodology in Big Data Era: A Survey of Franco Moretti's Quantitative Analysis Chen Xiaohui 2016, 36 (2):  70-77.  Abstract ( 260 )   PDF (5927KB) ( 58 )   Literary research in the Big Data era can hardly avoid the clamp of computing, and quantitative approach will eventually become one of the important approaches. This paper claims that Franco Moretti's literary quantitative analysis provides a typical example for literary study in the Big Data era. His method of quantitative analysis demonstrates the possibility of the methodological transition from natural sciences to social sciencesvand to humanities. With Popper's theory and contemporary IT advances behind his approach, Moretti exposes the literary significance of the change of novel’s titles after analyzing the titles of Britain's 7000 novel, which also proves the effectiveness and feasibility of quantitative analysis in literary research. Moretti's quantitative analysis of both the form and content of novels has demonstrated the legitimacy of using big data into literary research, but the results of his quantitative analysis can only reveal a general conclusion with the value judgment usually expected of humanities, and this invites debates. Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Site-Specificity of Public Art Andrea Baldini 2016, 36 (2):  78-83.  Abstract ( 505 )   PDF (3957KB) ( 312 )   Since the stipulation of the NEA's new guidelines in 1974, works of public art and site-specificity issues became inextricably intertwined. The aim of this paper is to clarify the relationship between works of public art and the specific space they "inhabit." I will develop my analysis by considering three case studies from contemporary public art: Richard Serra's Tilted Arc, Pino Castagna's In pietra alpestra e dura and Mauro Vangi's La Lupa. I will argue that public artworks that are site-specific function possibly following two directions that are dialectically related. On the one hand, public artworks "transform" the space where they are placed. The space can be transformed at three different levels: (i) physical; (ii) phenomenological; and (iii) social-political/cultural. On the other hand, site-specific public artworks "adapt" themselves to the nature of their space. In this sense, public artworks should be influenced (e.g., in terms of their artistic properties or possible meanings) by their site. Related Articles | Metrics

Issue in Focus: Spatial Theory and Criticism

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Spatial Experience and Artistic Expression: A View from the Perspective of Historical-Geographical Materialism Yan Jia 2016, 36 (2):  84-91.  Abstract ( 238 )   PDF (6018KB) ( 96 )   Harvey David's historical-geographical materialism provides a unique viewpoint for understanding and interpreting the spatial experience and expression in artistic creation. According to this theory, the meaning of space is always in a constant flux, and its complexity is not determined by the concept itself but depends on changes in the historical condition of human material production and the context. In the experience of space, physical space reflects the characteristics of human production and materials and is always accompanied by personal psychological experience and historical imagination. The artistic expression of space, which often becomes the intermediary between the social and historical conditions and the spatial experience, is also a kind of the fixed and materialized form of the spatial experience. Postmodernism in contemporary Western art actually reveals the historical-geographical condition of the late capitalism. Related Articles | Metrics

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David Harvey's Interpretations of Space in French Literature Liu Jin 2016, 36 (2):  92-100.  Abstract ( 185 )   PDF (6143KB) ( 45 )   David Harvey is one of the important figures who mingle traditions in geographic research and Marxism in the "spatial turn." His idea of space is developed in the three dimensions of ontology, modernity and art. In the dimension of art, his criticism practice of French literature centered on Paris opens a new horizon for spatial criticism of literary and cultural studies, and it also builds a new platform for realistic critical Marxist literary theory. Related Articles | Metrics

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Kierkegaard and 19th-Century Urban Space of Copenhagen: A Modernistic Critique Tianwang Jinjian 2016, 36 (2):  101-106.  Abstract ( 267 )   PDF (6143KB) ( 65 )   With the development of modernization process in Western capitalist society, modern metropolises appeared in succession. Many Marxists in Western countries examined the relationship between the transitions of urban space and modernity critically, but few researches have focused on the urban space of Copenhagen. Tivoli garden appeared as an innovation while rebuilding Copenhagen, which incarnated the modernity of urban space in Copenhagen. As a citizen in Copenhagen who had special individual career and religious background, Kierkegaard had established an important relationship with church, and he opened up a new way to critique modernity through theology. He argued that the authentic interior space would permit one to have the ability to return his external world, instead of imprisoning him. However, Denmark hadn't developed according to Kierkegaard's assumption; it became a democratic state leading by Grundtvigianism. Related Articles | Metrics

Classical Literary Theory and Criticism

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The Nature of Crime and the Role of the Judge: Judge Bao in Ballad-Stories Wilt L. Idema, Wu Guanwen 2016, 36 (2):  107-117.  Abstract ( 263 )   PDF (7983KB) ( 67 )   The character of Judge Bao, which derives from the historical Bao Zheng (999-1062), starts to make his appearance in the various genres of vernacular literature in the period 1250-1450. While vernacular stories (huaben) and plays (zaju and xiwen) on Judge Bao have been widely known throughout the twentieth century and have been analyzed repeatedly, the ballad-stories (cihua) on Judge Bao were only discovered nearby in Jiading, Zhejiang in 1967. While the initial publication of the facsimile edition of the ballad-stories created quite a stir and resulted in a number of publications, this initial enthusiasm soon ebbed away and the new materials had little impact on the presentation of the development of the legend of Judge Bao. While this may have been due to the relative rarity of the ballad-stories even after the publication of the facsimile edition, this was also due to the conventional view which considered ballad-stories as products of the Ming and so as later and derivative. But this is mostly likely a mistake. As some scholars have stressed, whereas the surviving works of vernacular stories and plays tend to be preserved in late and revised editions, the ballad-stories have been preserved in relatively early editions and show no clear signs of revision. Rather than treating the ballad-stories as later than huaben and zaju they should at least be treated as contemporaneous. As has been pointed out before, in many cases the ballad stories may well have served as sources of zaju rather than the other way around. In contrast to the tepid zaju texts that have come down to us by way of the Office for Bell and Drum (Zhonggusi), many ballad-stories show high officials abusing their power and committing murder at will and an emperor who is willing to bend the law in order to protect his relatives. They show a world in which power and crime go hand in hand and thereby judicial authority and independence becomes an urgent issue. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Debate on the Grade of Tao Yuanming in Zhong Rong's Tastes of Poetry in Modern Academic history Yang Xun 2016, 36 (2):  118-134.  Abstract ( 191 )   PDF (12234KB) ( 68 )   In his Tastes of Poetry, Zhong Rong (468-518) put Tao Yuanming to the middle grade, which caused much objection from later critics. Wang Shizhen (1526-90) thought that Tao should be put to the top grade, although he had not done any theoretical analysis or produced any evidence from research literature. The recent research on Tastes of Poetry found that Zhong Rong had put Tao Yuanming into the rank of top grade poets, as quoted from Taiping Yulan. The entailed debate evolves round such issues as whether the critics had been reading the original Tastes of Poetry and whether Zhong Rong's way of ranking should become a point of departure in academic debate. The editions, exemplifications in the book, ideas and criteria of poetry as well as the reception of Tao Yuanming have all been the issues in the debate. This paper tries to delineate this academic case and hopes to disclose some features in the modern transformation of Chinese traditional academic tradition. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Significance of Hu Yinglin's "Generational Stylistic Degradation" in Poetics and Culture Wang Minghui 2016, 36 (2):  135-143.  Abstract ( 261 )   PDF (6423KB) ( 69 )   Stylistic degradation over the generations is a claim made by Ming-Dynasty scholar Hu Yinglin (1551-1602) on classical Chinese poetic tradition. This paper argues that Hu's claim should not be treated merely as a concept of literary regression but should be taken more seriously as Hu's criticism of the uncontained proliferation of lyricism in poetry and corrosion of "ideal-expressing" poetic tradition. Hu's apparent retro idea of poetics conveyed in "generational stylistic degradation" is closely related with the tradition of "poetic arousal and projection (兴寄)" in ancient Chinese poetics and his reaffirmation of poetic cultivation, while poetic style (格) is a holistic concept in poetics which involves the poets' emotions and aspirations as well as the genres and stylistics in poetry. Poetic style reflects the poets' social status in an implicitly artistic manner, and the ranking of the style is defined by the upper class of the society and therefore poetic style as a symbol of their own tastes on poetry bears great significance on politics, culture and aesthetics. The claim that poetic style degrades over generations should be understood as essentially a poetic pursuit of the mainstream poetics advocated by the scholar-officials who endeavored to defend and maintain their commitment to their spiritual pursuit, social status and aesthetic taste. Related Articles | Metrics

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Humanity-Restoration and Artistic Creation: The Interfusion of Liu Xizai's Ideas of Inner Saint and Poetic Virtue Ma Tao 2016, 36 (2):  144-155.  Abstract ( 182 )   PDF (7834KB) ( 106 )   The Qing-Dynasty Confucian scholar Liu Xizai (1813-1881) expanded his idea about inner saint in terms of philosophy, literature and arts, and self-cultivation throughout his life. In such works as Private Words to Uphold the Will (Chizhi Shuyan) and Reading Notes from Ancient Tung Tree Studio (Gutong Shuwo Zhaji), Liu explored the ways to integrate life and art, human nature and artificial skills, with strong humanistic concerns. Underlying his concept of inner saint is the fusion of the idea of "literary creation as the study of mind" and the ideal of poetic virtue. Inner saintliness is achieved in the mind’s return to the state of detachedness to objects and integrity with objects, while poetic virtue of an inner saint shows the characteristics that no overindulgence in sadness would be resulted from worries and total detachedness would not align with the idea of moderation. Therefore, transcending self and objects, concerning the world and maintaining a high moral standard should be pursued as a combined spirit. Related Articles | Metrics

Aesthetics Criticism

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On the Construction of Aesthetic Image in Aesthetic Activities Zhu Zhirong 2016, 36 (2):  156-163.  Abstract ( 236 )   PDF (5488KB) ( 75 )   Beauty is aesthetic image constructed by the aesthetic subject in aesthetic activities. The process of image creation is a dynamic process of creation which transcends materiality and sensuality. Aesthetic activity as the process of image construction is a process in which the subject achieves spiritual pleasure through experiencing external things, bringing forth emotions and imagination and gratifying the desire of creation and self-achievement. This process unites the intuitive comprehension, judgement and creation. The relationship between image and artistic site is that between the form and the spirit, with the image taking various forms. The image is the embodiment of the spirit, and by way of the spirit it points to the Dao, and therefore it reveals the unity of the form, the spirit and the Dao and it has such characteristics as instantaneity, interpretativeness, transcendence and life consciousness. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Disciplinary Boundaries and Intrinsic Basis of Aesthetics of Theory of Life Wang Jianjiang 2016, 36 (2):  164-172.  Abstract ( 222 )   PDF (6511KB) ( 65 )   Aesthetics of theory of life establishes its boundaries through the distinction from social aesthetics, ethic aesthetics, natural aesthetics, and aesthetics education as well as the aesthetic realm. Aesthetics of theory of life has the features of the study of morphology, which construct its inner-aesthetics. Inner-aesthetics is characterized by non-object, inner-vision and spiritual realm, and becomes the signature features and intrinsic basis. The life ideal, spiritual realm and moral cultivation construct the specific connotation of Chinese aesthetics of theory of life. The paper claims that the research of aesthetics of theory of life can be deepened only through the mastery of the boundaries of this discipline, the confirmation of its aesthetic forms and the understanding of its disciplinary foundation. Related Articles | Metrics

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Aestheticization of Evil and the Theory of Poetic Justice Wang Jian'gang 2016, 36 (2):  173-183.  Abstract ( 320 )   PDF (7730KB) ( 69 )   As one of the common themes in literature and art, evil can be transformed and purified through creative aestheticization and obtain a new quality which the ordinary life cannot provide. Meanwhile, it also can be endowed with a poetic value and aesthetic ethics. Therefore, evil in art may not only help to engage the reader in understanding life but also plays a big role of providing aesthetic pleasure. Furthermore, the paradox of the aestheticization of evil will eventually point out the issue of literary ethics and trigger the people to ponder on poetic justice.     Related Articles | Metrics

Issue in Focus: Studies on Visual-Verbal Relationship

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An Ontological Comparison between Rhapsody and Tomb Art in the Han Dynasty Wang Xiaoyang 2016, 36 (2):  184-195.  Abstract ( 241 )   PDF (8615KB) ( 42 )   Rhapsody in the Han Dynasty is commonly categorized into two sub-genres, namely, prosaic rhapsody (greater rhapsody) with more descriptive details and lyric rhapsody (lesser rhapsody) which is often used to express personal thoughts and feelings. The tomb art in this paper specifically refers to the relief sculpture and the mural painting. The comparative study between rhapsody and tomb art in current scholarship has rarely taken their ontological relationship into consideration. Greater rhapsody and mural paintings may be considered as mainstream or upper-class art forms while lesser rhapsody and relief sculpture tend to be private or lower-class oriented. Recognizing the ontological relationship between the two art forms helps us to better understand how they are connected to and differ from each other. They may be examined in three aesthetic aspects. Firstly, rhapsody is open to multiple interpretations, while tomb art tends to be close, requiring its audience to decipher its imbued meanings before reaching more personal interpretation. Secondly, greater rhapsody attempts to create an imaginary world for the audience in reality, while relief sculpture tries to represent the other world with objects in this world. Finally, in terms of the verbal-visual relationships between the two art forms, rhapsody demonstrates the dynamic force of language, while the tomb art attains the balancing force of visual arts, and they together contribute to a balanced structure and dualistic relationships of two art forms for differed aesthetic orientations. Related Articles | Metrics

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From "Guideways through Mountains and Seas" to "Film Slides": A Study on the Gestation of Lu Xun's Concept of Image Xu Xu 2016, 36 (2):  196-208.  Abstract ( 222 )   PDF (9551KB) ( 52 )   The paper posits that Guideways through Mountains and Seas and film slides are two of the starting points to investigate Lu Xun's cognition of and choice between "cultural image" and "political image." Lu Xun had eventually blended both for the purpose of the Enlightenment through Image. Lu Xun's concept of image is two-folded. On the one hand, on the functional level of images, Lu Xun invested the image with the function of enlightenment, through his affirmation of the universality of images, caution against the frivolous consumption of images, and reflection over the enslavement of images. On the other hand, on the level of semiotics, Lu Xun invested the image with independent status of narrative, through his concepts of the three types of image-text relationships. Lu Xun's experience with images set the intellectual tradition for left-wing image, and sheds light for the construction of left-wing imagology. Lu Xun's proposition was based on three rationales, namely, the internal congeniality between the left-wing and images, the Chinese discourse of left-wing experience of image, and the existence of the left-wing experience of image over a century. Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Word-Image Intertextuality and Its Aesthetic Characteristics of the Illustrated Book Big Breasts and Wide Hips Wang Hongyue, Yang Chunlei 2016, 36 (2):  209-216.  Abstract ( 270 )   PDF (6526KB) ( 66 )   To examine the word-image intertextuality in the illustrated novels have become a new approach in literary studies, through which the relationship between illustrations and the novel itself is investigated. Mo Yan's novel Big Breasts and Wide Hips has been published with 24 pencil illustrations in 2003, and it can be seen that these illustrations are not randomly painted and inserted into the novel. The paper examines the dialogue and intertextuality between the text and the illustrations and analyzes the narrative modes of images and language. Related Articles | Metrics