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With his Demonic Warfare: Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel , Mark Meulenbeld provides an inspiring study of the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcistic, martial rituals in the vernacular language. It deserves a permanent place on the bookshelves of scholars in the fields of Daoist studies, Chinese fiction, Chinese popular religion, and Ming history. The book has three main strengths. First, it is an unprecedented effort to interpret a major Chinese novel from a Daoist ritual perspective. Second, the book deeply engages the field of Chinese fiction studies and thus sheds light on the intellectual history of this academic discipline. Third, as a consequence of the above points, the book is highly provocative, deconstructing the conventional notion of literature and religion. The book begins with an analysis of the cultural sphere of the novel Canonization of the Gods ( Fengshen yanyi 封神演義). The key agent in this domain is the vernacular language utilized in late imperial Chinese novels and drama, and the martial or exorcistic rituals of local communities. Meulenbeld defines “demonic warfare” as martial methods that ritually construct the actual battles of mortal warriors paralleled by demon warriors. He
Review of Religion and Chinese Society – Brill
Published: Nov 3, 2016
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