This book begins with a reflection on dichotomies in comparative studies of Chinese and Western literature and aesthetics. Critiquing an oppositional paradigm, Ming Dong Gu argues that despite linguistic and cultural differences, the two traditions share much common ground in critical theory, aesthetic thought, metaphysical conception, and reasoning. Focusing on issues of language, writing, and linguistics; metaphor, metonymy, and poetics; mimesis and representation; and lyricism, expressionism, creativity, and aesthetics, Gu demonstrates that though ways of conception and modes of expression may differ, the two traditions have cultivated similar aesthetic feelings and critical ideas capable of fusing critical and aesthetic horizons. With a two-way dialogue, this book covers a broad spectrum of critical discourses and uncovers fascinating connections among a wide range of thinkers, theorists, scholars, and aestheticians, thereby making a significant contribution to bridging the aesthetic divide and envisioning world theory and global aesthetics.
Author(s): Ming Dong Gu
Series: Chinese Literature and Culture in the World
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 383
City: Cham
Preface
Acknowledgments
Praise for Fusion of Critical Horizons in Chinese and Western Language, Poetics, Aesthetics
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction: Aesthetic Divide and Vision of Global Aesthetics
State of the Field in Chinese and Western Aesthetics
The Arch Paradigm of Oppositions and Differences
Crossing the Aesthetic Divide
Scope and Preview
For a Humanistic Paradigm of Fusion
Part I: Language and Writing
Chapter 2: Writing System and Linguistic Controversy
The Controversy Over Chinese Writing
A Utopian Approach to the Linguistic Gap
Visual and Semantic Primacy in Chinese Writing
A Failed Attempt to Narrow the Linguistic Gap
Chinese and Western Philosophy of Writing
Chapter 3: Reconceptualizing the Linguistic Divide
The Root Cause of the Linguistic Controversy
Metaphysical Roots of the Controversy
Semioticizing the Origins of the Chinese Writing
Chinese and Western Sign Theories
From Picture to Word: Chinese Graph-Making Principles
A New Category of Writing Symbol: Juxtaposign
Reconceptualizing the Picture/Word Divide
The Nature of Chinese Writing
Visual Primacy in Language Function
Concluding Remarks: Beyond the Linguistic Divide
Part II: Metaphor and Poetics
Chapter 4: Chinese and Western Conceptions of Metaphor
The Dichotomy Between Literalness and Metaphoricity
Metaphysical Inquiry of Chinese and Western Metaphor
Is Chinese Metaphor Less Creative?
Conceptual Groundings of Metaphor
The Universality of Metaphor
Chapter 5: Metaphor as Signs: Bi-Xing and Metaphor/Metonymy
Integrating Rhetorical and Philosophical Approaches to Metaphor
Metaphor and Predication
Limitations of a Rhetorical Approach
Reconceptualizing Bi and Xing
Toward A Sign Model of Metaphor
Part III: Mimesis and Representation
Chapter 6: Is Mimetic Theory Universal?
Is Mimetic Theory a Unique Western Cultural Invention?
The Universality of Mimetic Instinct
Conceptual Basis for Mimesis: Disjunction or Duality?
From Secondary Imitation to Representation
Creation God and the Divine in Mimesis
Why Is Mimesis Not Central to Chinese Poetics?
Conclusion: Mimetic Theory Is Universal
Chapter 7: Western Mimeticism and Chinese Mimetic Theory
From Imagistic Imitation to Representation
Mimetic Theory in Chinese Poetics
Mimetic Theory in Chinese Dramatic Criticism
Mimetic Theory in Chinese Fictional Criticism
Concluding Remarks
Part IV: Metaphysics and Aesthetics
Chapter 8: Divine Thinking and Artistic Creation
Cross-Cultural Belief in the Divine Source of Art
Western Conceptions of the Divine in Art
Chinese Conceptions of the Divine and Its Relation to Art
Chinese and Western Notions of the Artist as a Deity
The Chinese Aesthetic Ideal: Entering the Divine
Concluding Remarks
Chapter 9: Lyricism and Mimeticism in Aesthetic Thought
The Lamp in the Mirror or Expression in Representation
The Ontology of Art: A Transcendental Immanence
The Epistemological Grounding of Art
Art as the Unconscious Creation of Nature
Mimeticism in Expressionism
The Dialectics of Form and Essence
Compatibility of Aesthetic Affects and Effects
Chapter 10: Conclusion: Toward World Criticism and Global Aesthetics
Bibliography
Index
