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Ancestral Memory in Ancient China by Kenneth E. Brashier (review)

Ancestral Memory in Ancient China by Kenneth E. Brashier (review) Reviews Kenneth E. Brashier. Ancestral Memory in Ancient China. HarvardYenching Institute Monograph Series 72. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, distributed by Harvard University Press, 2011. xii, 470 pp. Hardcover $39.95, isbn 978-0-674-05607-7. First things first: Ancestral Memory in Ancient China is an excellent account of ancestral cult as it is depicted in a variety of textual sources. Similar to several outstanding, albeit sometimes underappreciated1 papers he has published over the years, Kenneth Brashier continues to delight his readers with a well-balanced, critical reading of transmitted historiographical, sociophilosophical, as well as poetical records roughly dating to and dealing with an era spanning from the third century b.c.e. through third century c.e. By incorporating the occasional divinatory texts excavated from tombs as well as stelae inscriptions, he demonstrates that ancestral worship was far more than "a simplistic and uninspired exchange of food for longevity, of prayers for prosperity" (p. 5); centered on "the notion of thoughtfull [sic] ancestors -- of ancestors projected from the minds of their descendants" (p. 4), the study primarily offers the perspective of the bereaved on the postmortem fate of their family members. The book is organized in five parts (pp. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png China Review International University of Hawai'I Press

Ancestral Memory in Ancient China by Kenneth E. Brashier (review)

Selbitschka, Armin.
China Review International , Volume 18 (4) – Jan 30, 2011
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University of Hawai'I Press
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Copyright © University of Hawai'i Press.
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1527-9367
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Abstract

Reviews Kenneth E. Brashier. Ancestral Memory in Ancient China. HarvardYenching Institute Monograph Series 72. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, distributed by Harvard University Press, 2011. xii, 470 pp. Hardcover $39.95, isbn 978-0-674-05607-7. First things first: Ancestral Memory in Ancient China is an excellent account of ancestral cult as it is depicted in a variety of textual sources. Similar to several outstanding, albeit sometimes underappreciated1 papers he has published over the years, Kenneth Brashier continues to delight his readers with a well-balanced, critical reading of transmitted historiographical, sociophilosophical, as well as poetical records roughly dating to and dealing with an era spanning from the third century b.c.e. through third century c.e. By incorporating the occasional divinatory texts excavated from tombs as well as stelae inscriptions, he demonstrates that ancestral worship was far more than "a simplistic and uninspired exchange of food for longevity, of prayers for prosperity" (p. 5); centered on "the notion of thoughtfull [sic] ancestors -- of ancestors projected from the minds of their descendants" (p. 4), the study primarily offers the perspective of the bereaved on the postmortem fate of their family members. The book is organized in five parts (pp.

Journal

China Review International – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Jan 30, 2011

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