Chinese Theories of Reading And Writing

This ambitious work provides a systematic study of Chinese theories of reading and writing in intellectual thought and critical practice. The author maintains that there are two major hermeneutic traditions in Chinese literature: the politico-moralistic mainstream and the metaphysico-aesthetical undercurrent. In exploring the interaction between the two, Ming Dong Gu finds a movement toward interpretive openness. In this, the Chinese practice anticipates modern and Western theories of interpretation, especially literary openness and open poetics. Classic Chinese works are examined, including the Zhouyi (the I Ching or Book of Changes), the Shijing (the Book of Songs or Book of Postry), and selected poetry, along with the philosophical background of the hermeneutic theories. Ultimately, Gu relates the Chinese practices of reading to Western hermeneutics, offering a cross-cultural conceptual model for the comparative study of reading and writing in general. Book jacket.

Ming Dong Gu is Assistant Professor of Modern Languages at Rhodes College

Preface	p. xi
Introduction. Hermeneutic Openness: A Transcultural Phenomenon	p. 1
The Rise of Hermeneutic Openness	p. 1
Origins of Openness in China	p. 2
Origins of Openness in the West	p. 5
Paradoxes in Interpretive Theories	p. 7
Two Hermeneutic Traditions in China	p. 9
Objectives and Scope of Inquiry	p. 9
Assumptions and Orientations	p. 12
Conceptual Inquiries into Reading and Openness
Theories of Reading and Writing in Intellectual Thought	p. 17
Reading in a Comparative Context	p. 17
Mencius' Positive Thesis of Reading	p. 18
Zhuangzi's Counterstatement	p. 22
Mencius' Hermeneutic Circle	p. 25
Zhuangzi's Wordless Communication	p. 32
Views of Reading after Mencius and Zhuangzi	p. 35
A Chinese Model of Reading and Writing	p. 43
Hermeneutic Openness in Aesthetic Thought	p. 45
Suggestiveness as an Aesthetic Category	p. 46
Yiyin (Lingering Sound) and Yiwei (Lingering Taste)	p. 49
Bujin zhiyi (Endless Meaning): Multivalence and Polysemy	p. 54
Hanxu (Subtle Reserve): Unlimited Semiosis	p. 63
Wu (Ontological Non-Being): Self-Generative Suggestiveness	p. 72
Beyond Aesthetic Suggestiveness	p. 76
Zhouyi Hermeneutics
The Zhouyi and Open Representation	p. 81
The Zhouyi as a System of Representation	p. 83
The Eight Trigrams as an Open System of Representation	p. 84
The Mechanisms of Openness in Hexagram Images	p. 87
Open Representation in Hexagram and Line Statements	p. 92
Indeterminacy in the Zhouyi's Genesis	p. 97
Ideas of Openness in Zhouyi Intellectual Thought	p. 101
A Semiotic Model of Reading and Representation	p. 103
The Source of the Zhouyi's Seductive Power	p. 111
Elucidation of Images: Ancient Insights into Modern Ideas of Reading and Writing	p. 113
Situating the Hermeneutic Controversy	p. 114
Mingxiang as a Hermeneutic Issue	p. 117
Wang Bi as an Innovative Synthesizer	p. 119
The Controversy over "Forgetting Images"	p. 124
A Distinction between Meaning and Significance	p. 129
Premodern Husserlians and Heideggerians	p. 138
The Death of the Author and Rise of the Reader	p. 142
Conceptual Significance of the Paradigm Shift	p. 146
Concluding Remarks	p. 149
Shijing Hermeneutics
The Shijing and Open Poetics	p. 153
Literary Openness in the Shijing	p. 154
The Open Textuality of "Guanju"	p. 158
Textual and Extratextual Indeterminacy	p. 168
A Notion of Open Field	p. 170
Paronomastic Reading and Writing	p. 176
Shijing Hermeneutics: Blindness and Insight	p. 181
In Search of Original Intentions	p. 181
Two Paradigms: One Orientation	p. 186
Indeterminate Subject Position	p. 188
From Allegory to Open Readings	p. 193
A Writing Model of Intertextual Dissemination	p. 196
Literary Hermeneutics
Open Poetics in Chinese Poetry	p. 209
Spatial Form and Linguistic Economy	p. 209
The "Eye" of Openness	p. 211
Symbiosis of Opposite Aesthetic Feelings	p. 220
Metaphysical Emptiness	p. 223
Serial Form and Oriented Openness	p. 227
Linguistic Openness and the Poetic Unconscious	p. 235
Openness and Poetic Language	p. 236
Openness and Syntactic Ambiguity	p. 241
Dream Language and the Poetic Unconscious	p. 245
Juxtaposition and Multidetermination	p. 249
Metaphor, Metonymy, and Signifying Practice	p. 254
The "Soul" of Openness	p. 260
Conclusion. Toward A Self-Conscious Open Poetics in Reading and Writing	p. 263
How Open Is A Literary Text?	p. 264
Le Mot Juste and Endless Meaning	p. 268
Hermeneutic Openness Is a Positive Thing	p. 271
Notes	p. 273
Works Cited	p. 303
Index	p. 321
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Chinese Theories of Reading And Writing

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Author Biography

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