"Jao Tsung-i's scholarship illuminated the development of classical Chinese literature from antiquity through the end of the Qing dynasty. In this volume, eight interviews and essays by Jao are translated faithfully into English, giving a sampling of hisdiverse insights into literature and its broader significance. Topics range from the religious beliefs underpinning the earliest Chinese writings, to the influence of Chan Buddhism on Chinese poetics, to Gu Yanwu's (1613-1682) poetic protest against the Manchu conquest. Collectively the essays demonstrate how literary art and spiritual beliefs have been intertwined throughout Chinese history"--
Eight translated interviews and essays exhibit Jao Tsung-is unique scholarly insights, setting classic Chinese literature in the context of metaphysics, Chan Buddhism, linguistics, political history, and diverse other topics.
Contents
Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i: Xuantang AnthologySeries Introduction
List of Tables and Figures
Editors Introduction
Original Titles and Sources for Text Translated in This Volume
1 Literature and Spirit: in Conversation with Shi Yidui
1The Meaning of Shenming
2The Function of Divination
3The Verification of Spirits
2 Sudden Enlightenment and Gradual Enlightenment: in Conversation with Shi
Yidui
1The Sixth Patriarch of Chan and the Rise of Chan Poetry
2Complete Penetration without Obstacle, Chan Mind Just So
3A Purified World, Ice Colder Than Water
3 Chinese Characters and Poetics
1Starting with Ezra Pound
2The Earliest Signs and Chinese Characters
3The Earliest Rhymed Narrative Poems
4Monosyllabic and Polysyllabic Words
5The Development of Xingsheng zi and Their Aesthetic Functions
6The Principles of Character Formation and the Concept of Lei (Category)
7The Conventions of Ellipsis and Reduplication
8Parallelism and Tonal Prosody
9The Development of Chinese Characters from a Functional Medium to an
Aesthetic One and the Simplification of Poetry
10Conclusion
4 Confucian Learning and the Art of Rhetoric
1Verbal Refinement and Establishing Sincerity Comprise the Union between
the Interior and Exterior
2Knowing People from Their Words
3Rhetoric and Pragmatics
5 On the Wen fu and Music
1234566 Linked Pearls and Logic: a Case of Intercultural
Misunderstanding
7 Suyab, the True Birthplace of Li Bai
1Location of Suyab
2Suyab Was Not Located in Qarasahr
3New Materials about Suyab
4Tibet and Suyab
5Suyab and the Western Turks
6Speculations about Why Li Bais Father Returned to Sichuan
7Li Bais Own Account of His Background
8Conclusion
8 On the Poetry of Gu Yanwu
Bibliography
Index
Nicholas Morrow Williams, Ph.D. (2010), University of Washington, is Associate Professor of Chinese Literature at Arizona State University. He is the translator of Elegies of Chu (Oxford Worlds Classics, 2022) and author of numerous other works on classical Chinese poetry.
Jao Tsung-i (19172018) was a prolific scholar and polymathic painter, poet, and calligrapher. Born in Chaozhou, he spent most of his career in Hong Kong, where he won international recognition as a leading interpreter and representative of Chinese cultural tradition.
