Reading Tao Yuanming : Shifting Paradigms of Historical Reception (427 - 1900)

by Swartz, Wendy

• ISBN13: 9780674031845
• ISBN10: 0674031849
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-30
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

Tao Yuanming (365?427), although dismissed as a poet following his death, is now considered one of Chinars"s greatest writers. Over the centuries, portrayals of his life-some focusing on his eccentricity, others on his exemplary virtue-have elevated him to iconic status. This study of the posthumous reputation of a central figure in Chinese literary history, the mechanisms at work in the reception of his works, and the canonization of Tao himself and of particular readings of his works sheds light on the transformation of literature and culture in premodern China. It focuses on readersrs" interpretive negotiations with Taors"s works and on changes in hermeneutical practices, critical vocabulary, and cultural demands, as well as the intervention of interested and influential readers, in order to trace the construction of Tao Yuanming. Driven by a dialogue on categories at the very heart of literati culture-reclusion, personality, and poetry-this cumulative process spanning fifteen centuries, the author argues, helps explain the very different pictures of Tao Yuanming and the divergent ways of reading his works across time and illuminates central issues animating premodern Chinese culture.

Table of Contents

Conventions	p. xi
Abbreviations	p. xiii
Chronology	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
Reclusion	p. 23
Tao Yuanming as Recluse in Early Biographies	p. 27
Allusion and Ambivalence in the Tang	p. 48
Quest for Philosophy and Motivations in the Song	p. 73
"Personality"	p. 95
Reading Personality in Early Hermeneutical Theory	p. 96
The Moral Recluse Versus the Eccentric Recluse	p. 107
From Aloof Recluse to Moral Hero	p. 116
Interlude: Tao Yuanming's Autobiographical Project	p. 130
Literary Reception, Part I: Six Dynasties to Song	p. 145
A Few Early Voices in the Six Dynasties	p. 146
Poetic Uses of Tao Yuanming in the Tang	p. 160
Redefinition and Canonization in the Song	p. 185
Literary Reception, Part II: Ming and Qing	p. 212
Placing Tao Yuanming in (and Outside) Literary History	p. 213
A Closer Look at Tao Yuanming	p. 229
Evidential Research in Tao Yuanming Studies	p. 246
Conclusion	p. 261
Reference Matter
Selected Bibliography	p. 269
Index	p. 287
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