The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature

(1000BCE-900CE)

Edited by Wiebke Denecke, Wai-Yee Li, and Xiaofei Tian

Oxford Handbooks

Focuses on literary texts as well as the conditions of literary production and transmission.
Fosters critical awareness of the gap between traditional concepts and modern revisionary definitions of literary categories.
Discusses both canonical works in belletristic genres and works that fall between the cracks of modern disciplinary divisions of philosophy, religion, history, and literature.
Expands the nation-based concept of "classical Chinese literature" to include Chinese-style literature from Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
Draws attention to the implications of historical and modern theories and methods of interpretation.

The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature

(1000BCE-900CE)

Edited by Wiebke Denecke, Wai-Yee Li, and Xiaofei Tian

Description

This volume introduces readers to classical Chinese literature from its beginnings (ca. 10th century BCE) to the tenth century CE. It asks basic questions such as: How did reading and writing practices change over these two millennia? How did concepts of literature evolve? What were the factors that shaped literary production and textual transmission? How do traditional bibliographic categories, modern conceptions of genre, and literary theories shape our understanding of classical Chinese literature? What are the recurrent and evolving concerns of writings within the period under purview? What are the dimensions of human experience they address? Why is classical Chinese literature important for our understanding of pre-modern East Asia? How does the transmission of this literature in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam define cultural boundaries? And what, in turn, can we learn from the Chinese-style literatures of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, about Chinese literature? In addressing these questions, The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature departs from standard literary histories and sourcebooks. It does not simply categorize literary works according to periods, authors, or texts. Its goal is to offer a new conceptual framework for thinking about classical Chinese literature by defining a four-part structure. The first section discusses the basics of literacy and includes topics such as writing systems, manuscript culture, education, and loss and preservation in textual transmission. It is followed by a second section devoted to conceptions of genre, textual organization, and literary signification throughout Chinese history. A third section surveys literary tropes and themes. The final section takes us beyond China to the surrounding cultures that adopted Chinese culture and produced Chinese style writing adapted to their own historical circumstances. The volume is sustained by a dual foci: the recuperation of historical perspectives for the period it surveys and the attempt to draw connections between past and present, demonstrating how the viewpoints and information in this volume yield insights into modern China and east Asia.

The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature

(1000BCE-900CE)

Edited by Wiebke Denecke, Wai-Yee Li, and Xiaofei Tian

Oxford Handbooks

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Contributor List
Timeline of Chinese Dynasties

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Key Concepts of "Literature" (Stephen Owen)
2. Periodization and Major Inflection Points (Stephen Owen)

SECTION TWO: BASICS OF LITERACY
I. Technology and Media
Editor's Introduction (Xiaofei Tian)
3. The Chinese Writing System (Imre Galambos)
4. Literary Media: Writing and Orality (Christopher M. B. Nugent)
5. Manuscript Culture (Christopher M. B. Nugent)
6. The Relationship of Calligraphy and Painting to Literature (Ronald Egan)

II. Institutions of Literary Culture
Editor's Introduction (Xiaofei Tian)
7. Education and the Examination System (Rebecca Doran)
8. Text and Commentary: The Early Tradition (Michael Puett)
9. Text and Commentary in the Medieval Period (Yu-yu Cheng)
10. Literary Learning: Encyclopedias and Epitomes (Xiaofei Tian)
11. Libraries, Book Catalogues, Lost Writings (Glen Dudbridge)

SECTION THREE: LITERARY PRODUCTION
I. Traditional Genre Spectrum
Editor's Introduction (Wai-yee Li)
12. Classics (David Schaberg)
13. Histories (Stephen Durrant)
14. Masters (Wiebke Denecke)
15. Collections (Xiaofei Tian)

II. Modern Perspectives on Genre
Editor's Introduction (Wai-yee Li)
16. "Chinese Poetry" (Paul Rouzer)
17. Elite versus Popular Literature (Wilt Idema)
18. Narrative Genres (Sarah Allen)

III. Collecting, Editing, Transmitting
Editor's Introduction (Xiaofei Tian)
19. Pre-Tang Anthologies and Anthologization (David R. Knechtges)
20. Anthologies in the Tang (Paul W. Kroll)
21. The Song Reception of Earlier Literature (Stephen Owen)
22. Textual Transmission of Earlier Literature during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties (Wai-yee Li)

IV. Literature and Metaliterature
Editor's Introduction (Wiebke Denecke)
23. Defenses of Literature/Literary Thought/Poetics (Paul Rouzer)
24. Concepts of Authorship (Wai-yee Li)
25. Tradition Formation: Beginnings to Eastern Han (Stephen Durrant)
26. Classicisms in Chinese Literary Culture: Six Dynasties through Tang (Anna Shields)

SECTION FOUR: MOMENTS, SITES, FIGURES
Editor's Introduction (Wai-yee Li)
27. Moments (Paula Varsano)
28. Sites I (Jack Chen)
29. Sites II (Wendy Swartz)
30. Figures (Wai-yee Li)

SECTION FIVE: EARLY AND MEDIEVAL CHINA AND THE WORLD
Editor's Introduction (Wiebke Denecke)
31. Colonization, Sinicization, and the Multigraphic Northwest (Tamara T. Chin)
32. Translation (Daniel Boucher)
33. Shared Literary Heritage in the Sinographic Sphere (Wiebke Denecke, with contributions by Nam Nguyen)
34. Sino-Korean Literature (Sim Kyung-ho and Peter Kornicki)
35. Early Sino-Japanese Literature (Wiebke Denecke)
36. Sino-Vietnamese Literature (Peter Kornicki)

The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature

(1000BCE-900CE)

Edited by Wiebke Denecke, Wai-Yee Li, and Xiaofei Tian

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

Wiebke Denecke is Associate Professor of Chinese, Japanese, and Comparative Literature at Boston University and the General Editor of the Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature.

Wai-yee Li is professor of Chinese literature at Harvard University. She has written numerous texts on late imperial Chinese literature and early Chinese historical writings.

Xiaofei Tian is Professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University. She has published several works on Middle Period Chinese literature, as well as in late imperial and modern literature and culture.

Contributors:

Sarah Allen, Wellesley College
Daniel Boucher, Cornell University
Jack Chen, UCLA
Yu-yu Cheng, National Taiwan University
Tamara Chin, Brown University
Wiebke Denecke, Boston University
Rebecca Doran, University of Miami
Glen Dudbridge, University of Oxford
Stephen Durrant, University of Oregon
Ronald Egan, Stanford University
Imre Galambos, University of Cambridge
Wilt Idema, Harvard University
David R. Knechtges, University of Washington
Peter Kornicki, University of Cambridge
Paul W. Kroll, University of Colorado
Wai-Yee Li, Harvard University
Nam Nguyen, Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City
Christopher M. B. Nugent, Williams College
Stephen Owen, Harvard University
Michael Puett, Harvard University
Paul Rouzer, University of Minnesota
David Schaberg, UCLA
Anna Shields, Princeton University
Wendy Swartz, Rutgers University
Xiaofei Tian, Harvard University
Paula Varsano, UC Berkeley

The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature

(1000BCE-900CE)

Edited by Wiebke Denecke, Wai-Yee Li, and Xiaofei Tian

Oxford Handbooks

Reviews and Awards

"This excellent, innovative volume complements more traditional reference works, e.g., The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. by William H. Nienhauser (2v, CH, Jul'86; CH, Apr'99, 36-4329). The book's back matter consists of bibliographic references and a 30-page index; Chinese characters are conveniently interspersed within the chapters themselves, obviating the need for a glossary. ... Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers." --P. F. Williams, CHOICE