Configurations of Comparative Poetics: Three Perspectives on Western and Chinese Literary Criticism (review)

"Configurations of Comparative Poetics is an important contribution to the nascent dialogue about where and how Chinese poetics takes its place in world literature." This line from the jacket notes is an accurate description of Zong-qi Cai's accomplishments as well as the ambitiousness of his project. This book also outlines the Western and Chinese literary traditions in an informative and systematic way.

The main difficulty for such an ambitious project concerns how to meet the needs of readers from various backgrounds. Cai keeps his discussion down-to-earth, and, as stated in the jacket notes, "the author's deep engagement with each tradition and his patient and remarkably thorough presentation and analysis are apparent." This "patience" in providing background knowledge is conducive to the acquisition of the rudiments for literary studies, although for some advanced readers this unnecessary information may overshadow the critical views of the author.

Part 1, comprised of four chapters under the title "Macrocosmic Structures," systematically outlines the Western and Chinese poetic traditions. The foci on "truth" and the Dao are practical guidelines to the fundamental differences between the two traditions (chapters 1 and 2); they are featured as instructive headings to "set the terms" for the book. Under the subheadings "Truth," "Untruth," and "Antitruth," the Western literary tradition is introduced in a comprehensive manner focusing on the central issue of the pursuit of "truth" (pp. 9-32). In chapter 2, the author gives an overview of the Chinese literary and philosophical traditions, thereby providing key parts of a typical Chinese college-level curriculum on literary thought (pp. 33-110.). This "patient" effort to provide background knowledge becomes a routine throughout the book in both the main texts and the endnotes.

Chapters 3 and 4 discuss the "worldviews" of the West and China. The aim to provide a wide range of information unavoidably results in oversimplification and overgeneralization of points of view. Although ethical and philosophical discourses are inseparable from literature, the introductory discussion seems unnecessarily wordy, tenuous, and at times diffusive. The two concluding remarks concerning literature "arising from human interaction with external process" and Chinese critics' "ever more complex cosmological schemes" are nicely drawn (pp. 97-98), but they are not at all innovative as they are simply digests of important studies in the field.

The sweeping coverage of subjects in the book reveals a lack of erudition that results in the presentation of misinformation and a failure to use primary, standard source materials. Errors concerning basic background information include stating that Wang Yi was the editor of Chuci buzhu (p. 275 n. 15) and that Wang Tong was the first to advocate the tenet "wen yi guan Dao" , simply because Wang is regarded as the author of Wenzhongzi (pp. 60, 272 n. 81), a book that was actually proven long ago to be a forgery.¹ Improper uses of sources and nonstandard citation formats are found throughout the book. For instance, Dong Zuobin is quoted as an authority on the division of the five periods in the Shang dynasty, but the original source of Dong's work is not given. Rather, Dong is cited as an authority because Benjamin Schwartz cites his work (pp. 76, 276 n. 22). Most sources quoted from the Taishô shinshû daizôkyô are not given essay titles, and in some cases not even given the sûtra title.² When using this source, the author fails to give register numbers "a," "b," and "c" that would have made it much easier to locate the text (providing the column number would also have been helpful). The plate of the famous "Stone Drum Inscription" is expediently taken from Gao Ming's reproduction of a Ming rubbing edition (p. 184). However, important studies such as Guo Moruo's Shiguwen yanjiu, in which the Song rubbing editions of the inscription are included and studied, are completely ignored.^3...