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The Elusiveness of Commonality: Late Twentieth-Century Sinology and the Search for a Shared Lyric Language

The Elusiveness of Commonality: Late Twentieth-Century Sinology and the Search for a Shared Lyric... As the study of what we now call “premodern” China gained traction among students in the postwar United States, the question of how it should be approached emerged as a divisive issue among interested scholars, perhaps nowhere as much as it did among those with a particular interest in Chinese poetry. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the stakes seemed high as scholars confronted their passionate disagreements about things as fundamental as the proper subject of study and the most fruitful methodology. Is China a coherent and self-sufficient subject of study? Can it be rightly and accurately characterized as a civilization so separate from the West, and so perfectly integrated within itself, as to render impossible—and even damaging—an approach to any aspect of its civilization that enables comparison? What is lost and what is gained if one chooses to focus more on Chinese poetry as poetry and less on Chinese poetry as Chinese? Is it really necessary—or possible—to choose? Or is it possible to find balance along a continuum? Of particular interest is the discourse of scholars who saw in the rise of formalist studies of literature either an opportunity or a threat. This article traces just some of the lines of resistance and exploration, convergence, and bifurcation that developed in this period, observing that the disagreements that were exercising these camps, while quite real, were not as absolute as their rhetoric would suggest. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture Duke University Press

The Elusiveness of Commonality: Late Twentieth-Century Sinology and the Search for a Shared Lyric Language

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Copyright
Copyright © 2022 by Duke University Press
ISSN
2329-0048
eISSN
2329-0056
DOI
10.1215/23290048-9681137
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See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

As the study of what we now call “premodern” China gained traction among students in the postwar United States, the question of how it should be approached emerged as a divisive issue among interested scholars, perhaps nowhere as much as it did among those with a particular interest in Chinese poetry. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the stakes seemed high as scholars confronted their passionate disagreements about things as fundamental as the proper subject of study and the most fruitful methodology. Is China a coherent and self-sufficient subject of study? Can it be rightly and accurately characterized as a civilization so separate from the West, and so perfectly integrated within itself, as to render impossible—and even damaging—an approach to any aspect of its civilization that enables comparison? What is lost and what is gained if one chooses to focus more on Chinese poetry as poetry and less on Chinese poetry as Chinese? Is it really necessary—or possible—to choose? Or is it possible to find balance along a continuum? Of particular interest is the discourse of scholars who saw in the rise of formalist studies of literature either an opportunity or a threat. This article traces just some of the lines of resistance and exploration, convergence, and bifurcation that developed in this period, observing that the disagreements that were exercising these camps, while quite real, were not as absolute as their rhetoric would suggest.

Journal

Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture – Duke University Press

Published: Apr 1, 2022

References

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    Berkowitz, Alan J.
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    Cassirer, Ernst Stephen Owen Stephen Owen Shuen-fu Lin
  • Review of Chinese Theories of Literature
    Chow Tse-tsung James J. Y. Liu
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    Davis, A. R. Hans H. Frankel
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    Enright, D. J. James J. Y. Liu.
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    Frankel, Hans H. James J. Y. Liu.
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    Holzman, Donald James J. Y. Liu
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Holzman, Donald Pauline Yu
  • The Aesthetics of Regulated Verse
    Kao Yu-kung Stephen Owen Shuen-fu Lin
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    Kao Yu-kung Tsu-lin Mei
  • Syntax, Diction, and Imagery in T'ang Poetry
    Kao Yu-kung
  • Tu Fu's ‘Autumn Meditations’: An Exercise in Linguistic Criticism
    Kao Yu-kung
  • Review of Poetry of the Early T'ang
    Kroll, Paul W. Stephen Owen
  • Review of Chinese Theories of Literature
    Lee, Karen J. James J. Y. Liu
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Lees, F. N. James Liu
  • The Humanistic Disciplines: Will Sinology Do?
    Levenson, Joseph R.
  • A Reply to Professor Wang
    Liu, James J. Y.
  • The Study of Chinese Literature in the West: Recent Developments, Current Trends, Future Prospects
    Liu, James J. Y.
  • Towards a Synthesis of Chinese and Western Theories of Literature
    Liu, James J. Y.
  • Review of The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition
    McCraw, David Pauline Yu
  • Review of The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition
    Miao, Ronald Pauline Yu
  • The Case for the Integrity of Sinology
    Mote, Frederick W.
  • A Defense
    Owen, Stephen
  • The Self's Perfect Mirror: Poetry as Autobiography
    Owen, Stephen Stephen Owen Shuen-fu Lin
  • Synecdoche of the Imaginary
    Owen, Stephen Paula Varsano
  • Transparencies: Reading the T'ang Lyric
    Owen, Stephen
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Sinclair, Marjorie James J. Y. Liu
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Teele, Roy E. James J. Y. Liu
  • A Lone Cheer for Sinology
    Twitchett, Denis
  • Review of Chinese Theories of Literature
    Wixted, J. T. James J. Y. Liu.
  • Chinese History and the Historical Vocation
    Wright, Mary C.
  • Review of The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition
    Yeh, Michelle Pauline Yu
  • Allegory, Allegoresis, and the Classic of Poetry
    Yu, Pauline R.
  • Chinese and Symbolist Poetic Theories
    Yu, Pauline R.
  • Metaphor and Chinese Poetry
    Yu, Pauline R.
  • Review of Chinese Literature in Transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages and Immortals, Festivals and Poetry in Medieval China, by Donald Holzman
    Berkowitz, Alan J.
  • Some Reflections on Chinese Poetic Language and Its Relation to Chinese Cosmology
    Cassirer, Ernst Stephen Owen Stephen Owen Shuen-fu Lin
  • Review of Chinese Theories of Literature
    Chow Tse-tsung James J. Y. Liu
  • Review of The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady
    Davis, A. R. Hans H. Frankel
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Enright, D. J. James J. Y. Liu.
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Frankel, Hans H. James J. Y. Liu.
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Holzman, Donald James J. Y. Liu
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Holzman, Donald Pauline Yu
  • The Aesthetics of Regulated Verse
    Kao Yu-kung Stephen Owen Shuen-fu Lin
  • Meaning, Metaphor, and Allusion in T'ang Poetry
    Kao Yu-kung Tsu-lin Mei
  • Syntax, Diction, and Imagery in T'ang Poetry
    Kao Yu-kung
  • Tu Fu's ‘Autumn Meditations’: An Exercise in Linguistic Criticism
    Kao Yu-kung
  • Review of Poetry of the Early T'ang
    Kroll, Paul W. Stephen Owen
  • Review of Chinese Theories of Literature
    Lee, Karen J. James J. Y. Liu
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Lees, F. N. James Liu
  • The Humanistic Disciplines: Will Sinology Do?
    Levenson, Joseph R.
  • A Reply to Professor Wang
    Liu, James J. Y.
  • The Study of Chinese Literature in the West: Recent Developments, Current Trends, Future Prospects
    Liu, James J. Y.
  • Towards a Synthesis of Chinese and Western Theories of Literature
    Liu, James J. Y.
  • Review of The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition
    McCraw, David Pauline Yu
  • Review of The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition
    Miao, Ronald Pauline Yu
  • The Case for the Integrity of Sinology
    Mote, Frederick W.
  • A Defense
    Owen, Stephen
  • The Self's Perfect Mirror: Poetry as Autobiography
    Owen, Stephen Stephen Owen Shuen-fu Lin
  • Synecdoche of the Imaginary
    Owen, Stephen Paula Varsano
  • Transparencies: Reading the T'ang Lyric
    Owen, Stephen
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Sinclair, Marjorie James J. Y. Liu
  • Review of The Art of Chinese Poetry
    Teele, Roy E. James J. Y. Liu
  • A Lone Cheer for Sinology
    Twitchett, Denis
  • Review of Chinese Theories of Literature
    Wixted, J. T. James J. Y. Liu.
  • Chinese History and the Historical Vocation
    Wright, Mary C.
  • Review of The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition
    Yeh, Michelle Pauline Yu
  • Allegory, Allegoresis, and the Classic of Poetry
    Yu, Pauline R.
  • Chinese and Symbolist Poetic Theories
    Yu, Pauline R.
  • Metaphor and Chinese Poetry
    Yu, Pauline R.