Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Writing//Posthuman: The Literary Text as Cognitive Assemblage

N. Katherine Hayles

2018, 38 (3): 6-21.

Abstract ( 270 )

PDF (1410KB) ( 210 )

Posthuman studies have developed in many different directions, which may be charted according to the role they assign to computational technologies. Arguing that computational media have been highly influential in the spread of posthumanism and its conceptualizations, this essay illustrates the importance of digital technologies for writing in the contemporary era. Humans and computational media participate in hybrid interactions through cognitive assemblages, networks through which information, interpretations and meanings circulate. Illustrating these interactions are analyses of two works of electronic literature, Sea and Spar Between by Nick Montford and Stephanie Strickland, and Evolution by Johannes Heldén and Hakan Jonson.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

From the Bicameral Man to the Self-presider: About The Inner Voice of Characters in Narrative Works

Fu Xiuyan

2018, 38 (3): 22-35.

Abstract ( 338 )

PDF (1781KB) ( 173 )

One inspiration drawn from Julian Jaynes' theory of bicameral mind is that the construction of human beings' subjective consciousness has not yet been completed, which should arouse great awareness of all researchers in "Science of Man". Cautiously applying this theory to reexamine the characters with inner voice in their ears in narrative works helps us to further understand the mental state of human beings. We cannot ignore the description of consciousness itself which is written by literature as an ideology. Moreover, the depth frequently achieved by this kind of writing is beyond the reach of other kinds. Since the consciousness of robot has become a hotly debated topic, this essay argues that the mental problems of human beings should be an equal concern. Now that we are in fear of the artificial intelligence escaping from human control, maybe we should contemplate whether humankind's consciousness is completely self-presided in the first place.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Human, Animal, and Life in the Posthuman Turn: From Agamben to Young Marx

Wang Xingkun

2018, 38 (3): 36-47.

Abstract ( 320 )

PDF (1770KB) ( 524 )

The Posthuman thought since the 1980s has challenged anthropocentrism and humanism to a great extent, and has promoted our reflections on what human is, on the relationship between humans and animals, and on human life itself. Three paths of Posthuman research will be traced, in which the concept of "biopolitics" and "anthropological machine" of Agamben proceeds from the animalization of human in the political field, and reveals the the dilemma of exclusive inclusion facing contemporary human life. But Agamben comes up with a passive politics based on a-historical analysis. This paper is intended to go back to the analysis of the animalization of labor power in young Marx's "Paris Manuscripts", to reveal the social and economic roots behind this animalization, and with the reinterpretation of the concept of "species being", to propose an idea that can truly liberate the human life while at the same time, totally reject the idea of anthropocentrism and humanism.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

From Antihumanism to Posthuman: Beyond Anthropomorphical Dialectics

Zhang Chunxiao

2018, 38 (3): 48-56.

Abstract ( 520 )

PDF (1750KB) ( 405 )

Humanism and some Anti-humanistic theories share the same dialectical logic, which is deconstructed by Derrida but lacks alternatives. On the other hand, humanism is easily brought back into the discussion of Posthumanistic subjects due to anthropomorphism characterized by dialectics. This article tries to differentiate the "Posthuman" in its narrow sense from Antihumanism in its broad sense. Such Posthuman is exteriority that detours the consciousness of subjectivity, monism that deconstructs all kinds of fundamentalism and binary, and, finally, empirical embodiment.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The Cultural Politics of Conspicuous Consumption in China

Zhou Min

2018, 38 (3): 57-67.

Abstract ( 322 )

PDF (1316KB) ( 153 )

To adequately understand contemporary conspicuous consumption in China, one needs to put it in a historical background and look at it not only from an economic perspective but also from cultural and political points of view. Both China and the West have had the phenomenon of conspicuous consumption at different historical periods, which, in their own ways, have constituted different cultural and political narratives and have demonstrated in them different characteristics. Three Confucian values that affect Chinese people's consumption of luxurious commodities — namely, maintaining consistency between behavior and status, family reputation and the awareness of other people's influence — are the cultural reasons that distinguish Chinse conspicuous consumption from that of the Western mode.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Horace's Poetry and the Literary Order of Augustan Rome

Li Yongyi

2018, 38 (3): 68-77.

Abstract ( 268 )

PDF (1737KB) ( 118 )

Roman poets in the Augustan era were already faced with a literary order the complexity of which was almost modern, composed of the state, the public, patrons and friends. The prevalence of literary patronage compelled poets to negotiate between art and political power, whereas a well-developed mechanism of publication, transmission and book trade exerted pressure on them in terms of tastes and fashions. Horace's success lay in his ability to outmaneuver the system through ingenious strategies, whereby instead of falling victim to it, he managed to shape the course of Roman poetry.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Discovery and Invention of Image Effects: A Study of Gombrich's Theory of Caricature

Mu Chun

2018, 38 (3): 78-87.

Abstract ( 283 )

PDF (1741KB) ( 251 )

E. H. Gombrich's discussions on caricatures play an important role in his study of the history of art and image psychology. He begins his narrative of the magic of art with the taboos of caricature and in this way delineates the course of Western art history. He also reflects on the representational images in Western Naturalism from the perspective of equivalences of caricatures, and by means of this he reveals the truth of image psychology. Gombrich argues that all image makings, including the one aiming at representation, pursue equivalences instead of similarities, and image makers always devote themselves to conducting various experiments to forge keys to our senses. Since making caricatures, even all kinds of images, is not to discover something that is already made, all drawings are mainly inventions of artists.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Return to Roman Jakobson: On the Linguistic Source of "Literariness"

Feng Wei

2018, 38 (3): 88-97.

Abstract ( 437 )

PDF (1277KB) ( 315 )

It is necessary to take the linguistic source of "literariness" into account when we discuss the controversy concerning the term itself. Jakobson brought forth the concept of "literariness" for the first time in 1919. After that, the relation between literature and linguistics always played a leading role in his academic thoughts. He was also the first to use the notion of "structuralism" in 1929 and became a pivotal figure in the adaptation of Saussure's structural analysis to literary theory. Not only did he explore his precursor's functionalist ideology, but also expanded the social significance and humanistic values of linguistic studies. Therefore, his view of "dynamic synchronism" is essential to applying structural linguistic analysis to literary studies, and to comprehending what literariness is. To Jakobson, "literariness" is the dominance of poetic function in the multi-functional structure of language. Literariness is not the independent self-sufficiency of literature that rejects all external connections. On the contrary, the six functions of language act simultaneously and interactively influence each other with regard to the art of language. To determine whether the poetic function dominates, one should not only consider the poetic, artistic and aesthetic dimensions of language, but also its social, historical and cultural aspects. Thus, the origin of the concept may shed some light on the debates about "literariness".

References | Related Articles | Metrics

On Different Models for Lyric Poems

Jonathan Culler, Cao Danhong

2018, 38 (3): 98-104.

Abstract ( 265 )

PDF (1729KB) ( 182 )

Two conceptions of the lyric have come to dominate the study of poetry in the Anglo-American world: the Romantic model, which considers lyric as an intense expression of subjective experience and emotion, and the mimetic model that treats poetry as the thought or speech of a persona created by the poet, therefore adopting methods and strategies used in analysing fictional texts. Neither of these two can be the "default model" for describing and interpreting lyrics because of their neglect of the fundamental characteristics of lyrics: all those elements which are fundamentally directions for performance rather than representations. Moreover, while lyrics may contain fictional elements in general they do not create fictional worlds but make statements about our world. And while some poems work to induce readers to imagine a human subject and a speaking voice, for many the vocal effects are what can be called "voicing" rather than mimesis of voice.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Particularities in Time and Space: on Historicism in Stephen Greenblatt's New Historicism

Wang Zhu

2018, 38 (3): 105-111.

Abstract ( 290 )

PDF (1257KB) ( 122 )

Historicism usually appears as a confusing concept in scholarly writings. Several thinkers have made definitions of this term in both its strict and loose senses, and it is now usually used in its loose sense — it can refer to any methodology in which a certain entity is examined by placing it in a specific time and place. Stephen Greenblatt's major works share the spirit of historicism in its loose sense in that he has put into question the possibility of building an abstract theoretical system independent of time and space. Greenblatt was accused of having shied away from examinations of the differences between different stages in historical evolution, yet he has taken into account how things change in history as well — his New Historicism can by no means be separated from historicism in spite of his reluctance to link the two.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Zhidun's Five-Character Poems and Their Significance in the History of Poetry

Cai Yanfeng

2018, 38 (3): 112-120.

Abstract ( 306 )

PDF (1737KB) ( 325 )

Zhidun is an eminent monk in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He made great achievements in Buddhism. His poetry was very influential in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Zhidun inherited the tradition of Wei and Jin Poetry, and paid attention to poetic language. Influenced by the popular metaphysical poems in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Zhidun's poetry had a significant impact on literati poetry. Judging from the number of poems and the level of art, that Zhi Dun's was a very important poet in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. However, because Zhidun was a monk, his poetry and its significance have not been fully recognized.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Aristocratic Portrait of Cifu: A Study of the Fuxue at the Xiao Family of Lanling in the Southern Dynasties

Liu Xiang

2018, 38 (3): 121-128.

Abstract ( 300 )

PDF (1736KB) ( 158 )

As an imperial family in the Southern Dynasties (420-589) , the Xiao family of Lanlin played the roles of royal members and literati, the interaction between which profoundly influenced the criticism and creative activities of Cifu. Wen Xuan supervised by Xiao Tong distinguished Sao and Fu and prioritized Fu. Taking Jinfu as the object of investigation, it constructed the concept of the dynamic history of Fu that attached importance to both great Fu and little Fu. In terms of content, the Xiao family often created lyrical little Fu with aristocratic interests and recreational tendencies, in accordance with the principle of yu mu xie xin and chun wen qiu hui. In terms of form, the Xiao family's Fuxue featured innovation and breakthrough by establishing a paradigm for traditional writing style, and making Fu more poetical. Enlightened and open-minded, the Xiao family constructed a special field for the creation of Cifu, which played an important role in the new changes of the Qi-Liang Dynasty.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

New Evidence to Some Issues of the Linchuan School of Drama in the Ming Dynasty: On the basis of the Historical Facts of Tang Xianzu's Associating with His Fellow Countrymen

Chen Zhiyong

2018, 38 (3): 129-140.

Abstract ( 415 )

PDF (1771KB) ( 864 )

In the Ming Dynasty, Linchuan, in addition to Suzhou, Nanjing, and Hangzhou, is another important center of drama where Tang Xianzu is the core. The center formed around a family with remote village communities and the members include Xie Tingliang, Shuai Ji, Wu Shizhi, Zeng Ruhai, Zheng Zhiwen and Xu Fenpeng. These writers have different degree of social contact with Tang Xianzu, and tend to have similar creation and thought. It is reasonable to consider the Linchuan drama group during the period of the late Ming dynasty as an independent genre of drama. More importantly, to explore the activities of these dramatists from the perspectives of dramatic ecology and literary geography is of special significance for remapping these dramatists' genealogy and geographical affiliation and therefore for revaluating Tang's achievement and status in history of drama.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

A Study of the Combination of Elegance and Popularity in the Chuanqi Plays' Lyrics during the Reign of Emperor Wanli

Li Yihui

2018, 38 (3): 141-150.

Abstract ( 282 )

PDF (1747KB) ( 168 )

In drama theories, criticisms and creative practices during the reign of Emperor Wanli in the Ming dynasty, the combination of elegance and popularity in chuanqi plays' lyrics was prominent, which demonstrated the interactive characteristics of aesthetic theories and literary writings. In terms of theories, Tu Long made a first attempt, which was fulfilled by Wang Jide and inherited by Wang Tingne, Zang Maoxun, etc. In terms of creative practices, Mei Dingzuo's The Story of the Jade Box initiated this thought, and then Tang Xianzu's Peony Pavilion pushed it to its peak, followed by the other two plays The Story of Nanke and The Story of Handan. From the viewpoints of the whole evolutionary history of chuanqi in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was this thought and its practitioners that changed the situation of the circle of chuanqi plays once led by the Wenci school, and thus that offered people a new aesthetic ideal of coexisting elegance and popularity. The trend from separation to combination led to the great prosperity of chuanqi in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

An Interpretation of “Xingwei”

Sun Chao

2018, 38 (3): 151-159.

Abstract ( 467 )

PDF (1271KB) ( 154 )

"Xingwei" is a poetic category based on the theory of "Xing" and "Wei" in Chinese poetics. Connecting "Xing" and "taste" theories, Zhong Rong put forward the theory of "Flavour", which refers to the beauty of implication in the content and situation of the poems. This became the basic meaning of "Xingwei" later. An overview ancients cases indicate that "Xingwei" mainly refers to an aesthetic feeling or experience implied in the poetry and can rouse the reader' extremely interest and enable the reader to have an endless aftertaste. It points to both aesthetic acceptance and the generation of creation, has two dimensions of poetry and daily life, and is both absorptive and open. It once became the common aesthetic standard of ancient literature together with other homogeneous categories. In modern times, it even once became the core of literary criticism, displaying the capacity of connecting the ancient and the modern, China and the West. Up to now, the poetic meaning of "Xingwei" continues to be open to all fields of art. It is worth special attention if we want to construct localized, autonomous critical discourse of China.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Post-Structuralist Poetics in the Great Preface and Some Thoughts on the Modernization of Ancient Chinese Literary Theory

Gu Mingdong

2018, 38 (3): 160-168.

Abstract ( 397 )

PDF (1738KB) ( 243 )

The Great Preface of the Mao School of Poetry is a foundational document for the exegesis of the Shijing and a landmark for Chinese literary theory. Despite its status as the first cornerstone for Chinese poetics, it has incurred harsh criticism due to its various inadequacies and unknown origin, and is never regarded as the first self-consciously composed literary criticism. Is The Great Preface indeed a discourse with a loose structure and inconsistent thesis as the critics have suggested? To re-examine its writing, conception, and overall structure from the perspective of post-structuralist discourse theory will draw an opposite conclusion: The Great Preface has a clear thesis, subtly conceived, and coherently argued, with a distinctive organization and reasoning predicated on the basis of ostensibly obsolete philology. Moreover, its structure and ways of signification and representation implicitly contain a creative model of writing that anticipates Julia Kristeva's intertextuality and Jacques Derrida's dissemination, thereby enabling the treatise to be viewed as a post-structuralist poetic discourse. Adopting an approach that integrates traditional philology with post-structuralism, this article investigates these concerns: (1) Does traditional poetics based on philology radically differ from post-structuralist poetics? (2) Why is The Great Preface not fairly evaluated in history? (3) What sort of poetics does the The Great Preface imply in comparison with Western and modern poetics? (4) What insights can a new reading of The Great Preface in terms of modern poetics shed on the modernization of traditional Chinese literary theory?

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The Formation of Body Modernity and Its Discourse Dimension: A Case Study of "Body Encounter" in Modern China

Huang Jigang

2018, 38 (3): 169-178.

Abstract ( 224 )

PDF (1744KB) ( 130 )

Body modernity played an important role in the process of shaping cultural modernity. Discourse of the body corresponded to the modern enlightenment, and expressed the political metaphor of the formation of modernity. From the issue of "body encounter" in modern China, we see the production process of the national body, the over-dominance of which reflected the needs of the time. The appearance of the body, to a certain extent, eased the anxiety of reform, which was also the body's frustration.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Intuitional Experience and Visual Regulation: On the Relationship between Language and Picture in Xiangxing Shujian and Xiangxing Sanji

Liu Tairan

2018, 38 (3): 179-192.

Abstract ( 265 )

PDF (1894KB) ( 172 )

Shen Congwen's consciousness about the difference and complementarity between pictures and words finds expression in his Xiangxing Shujian (The Complete Works of Shen Congwen) and Xiangxing Sanji (Random Sketches on a Trip to Hu'nan). Shen thinks that it is much more difficult to express his intuitional experience by words than by painting, though, for him, painting is still powerless in this regard. Shen just made do with words. So he tried to describe the intact image of Xiangxi (West Hu'nan) by juxtaposing words and painting simultaneously and by balancing what is classic and what is modern. In fact, that kind of image of Xiangxi can only be found indistinctly in the crack between various visual regulations and the representation system.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The Energeia and Image in the Thought of Gadamer in His Late Years

Sun Lijun

2018, 38 (3): 193-200.

Abstract ( 184 )

PDF (1719KB) ( 230 )

The concept of energeia is the up-to-date thought in Gadamer's old age, which is also philosophical hermeneutics' upto-date contribution to ontology. The energeia means the force in the development of being. According to the philosophical hermeneutics, being can be divides into three grades: the chaos, the being, and the transformation from chaos to the being. In the transformation from chaos to the being, it is the energeia that makes it happen. The essence of the image is that it is the way of chaos transformation into the being. At the same time, the image preserves the energeia which drives the transformation. The power of image comes from the fact that energeia has the ability of capturing the readers. In the course of history, the image is the power to destroy language conventions and initiate orientation to chaos.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Critique of "Aesthetic Non-differentiation" Thought: Reflections and Transcendence in the Early Gadamer's Aesthetics

Xiao Jianhua

2018, 38 (3): 201-208.

Abstract ( 264 )

PDF (1252KB) ( 104 )

There are two backgrounds when the concept of "aesthetic non-differentiation" is put forward. The background of thought is critique of Kant's subjective aesthetics and its successors, such as genius aesthetics and experience aesthetics. The real background of art practice is the critique of the so-called "museum-style art". The theoretical essence of "aesthetic non-differentiation" is the emphasis on the unity and non-differentiation of the whole life world and ontological truth as a representation of the life world. The directly and mainly theoretical source of "aesthetic non-differentiation" is Heidegger's ontological thought. The misreading of Heidegger's ontological aesthetics causes some theoretical defects in "aesthetic non-differentiation" itself, such as the superficially aesthetic thought, the statically aesthetic understanding. "Aesthetic non-differentiation" is a key concept in the early Gadamer's aesthetics. The reflection and critique of the concept is a reflection and critique of the early Gadamer's aesthetics in fact. The reflection and critique of "aesthetic non-differentiation" offer us the enlightenment that keeping an identical as well as differential tension is necessary between art and historical reality, and also between the aesthetic and the non-aesthetic.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Theory about the Essence of Literature from the Perspective of Ontology

Wang Zhongyuan

2018, 38 (3): 209-216.

Abstract ( 262 )

PDF (1251KB) ( 128 )

Under the background of deconstructionism, contemporary literary anti-essentialism has posed questions such as: what is the theory about the essence of literature and how does it become possible? To answer these questions, one needs to study the connotation and possibility of theories about the essence of literature from an ontological perspective. The essence of literature refers to the being of literature. The theory about the essence of literature is thus the theoretical interpretation of being of literature, which is also the primary subject of literary studies and the metatheory of literary theory. The ontological area on which the theory about the essence of literature is based exhibits a dialectical unity of such three areas: "what literature is", "how literature is" and "the being of literature". An investigation of the ontological theory about the essence of literature enables us to have insight into the legitimacy basis and boundary of various relevant theories. When the essential power of theory about the essence of literature has been released, the studies of literary theory and even literature could have original foundation.

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Table of Content