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Remembering Kaiyuan and Tianbao: The Construction of Mosaic Memory in Medieval Historical Miscellanies

Remembering Kaiyuan and Tianbao: The Construction of Mosaic Memory in Medieval Historical... <jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Medieval historical miscellanies have traditionally been seen as repositories of random historical information. This essay examines how the miscellany form makes possible a distinct mode of cultural memory construction, the piecing together of anecdotes gathered from oral and written sources to create a composite, multifaceted picture of the past, or "mosaic memory." Using as examples four monothematic post-An Lushan rebellion collections devoted to the memory of the Kaiyuan-Tianbao era (713-756), we may see how compilers created idiosyncratic versions of mosaic memory as a result of their personal motives and cultural positions. These individual versions also overlay and constitute a cumulative representation that reveals important features of mosaic memory as a communal discourse. The layered formation of mosaic memory helps to shed light on how the cultural memory of the Kaiyuan-Tianbao era took shape in the mid- and late-Tang periods and how medieval historical miscellanies functioned as an important site of cultural production.</jats:p> </jats:sec> http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png T'oung Pao Brill

Remembering Kaiyuan and Tianbao: The Construction of Mosaic Memory in Medieval Historical Miscellanies

T'oung Pao , Volume 97 (4-5): 263 – Jan 1, 2011

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0082-5433
eISSN
1568-5322
DOI
10.1163/156853211X604134
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Medieval historical miscellanies have traditionally been seen as repositories of random historical information. This essay examines how the miscellany form makes possible a distinct mode of cultural memory construction, the piecing together of anecdotes gathered from oral and written sources to create a composite, multifaceted picture of the past, or "mosaic memory." Using as examples four monothematic post-An Lushan rebellion collections devoted to the memory of the Kaiyuan-Tianbao era (713-756), we may see how compilers created idiosyncratic versions of mosaic memory as a result of their personal motives and cultural positions. These individual versions also overlay and constitute a cumulative representation that reveals important features of mosaic memory as a communal discourse. The layered formation of mosaic memory helps to shed light on how the cultural memory of the Kaiyuan-Tianbao era took shape in the mid- and late-Tang periods and how medieval historical miscellanies functioned as an important site of cultural production.</jats:p> </jats:sec>

Journal

T'oung PaoBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2011

Keywords: MEDIEVAL CHINESE MISCELLANIES; CULTURAL MEMORY; TANG LITERATURE AND CULTURE

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