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part฀ii.฀rhetoric฀of฀taste chapter฀ Poems฀for฀the฀Emperor:฀Imperial฀Tastes฀in฀the฀Early฀ Ninth฀Century pauline฀yu It฀is฀well฀known฀that฀the฀compilation฀of฀works฀by฀multiple฀authors฀in฀China฀ is฀ a฀ practice฀ as฀ old฀ as฀ the฀ textual฀ tradition฀ itself.฀ Most฀ of฀ the฀ Confucian฀ classics,฀ for฀ example,฀ are฀ essentially฀ anthologies—of฀ poetry,฀ of฀ historical,฀ expository,฀ and฀ rhetorical฀ prose,฀ and฀ of฀ writings฀ on฀ ritual.฀ This฀ impulse฀ to฀ select฀ and฀ preserve฀ literary฀ texts฀ was฀ extended,฀ time฀ and฀ time฀ again,฀ from฀such฀repositories฀of฀moral฀wisdom฀and฀historical฀exempla฀to฀other฀ enterprises฀of฀widely฀varying฀topic,฀scope,฀and฀significance. I฀ have฀ discussed฀ elsewhere฀ some฀ of฀ the฀ likely฀ motivations฀ behind฀ such฀ endeavors,฀ be฀ they฀ curatorial,฀ normative,฀ evaluative,฀ pedagogical,฀ programmatic,฀or฀haphazard,฀as฀well฀as฀some฀of฀the฀principles฀behind฀the฀ earliest฀ extant฀ examples฀ in฀ China.1 ฀ Various฀ analogies฀ to฀ collecting฀ have฀ suggested฀themselves฀along฀the฀way฀as฀well.฀David฀Antin’s฀comparison฀of฀a฀ poetic฀anthology฀to฀a฀zoo฀induced฀me฀to฀explore฀both฀the฀similarities฀and฀the฀ differences฀between฀these฀two฀cultural฀forms.2 ฀A฀Newsweek฀review฀of฀Martin฀ Scorsese’s฀New฀York฀Stories฀that฀defined฀this฀filmic฀triptych฀as฀an฀anthology฀ and,฀therefore,฀“the฀cinematic฀equivalent฀of฀grazing”฀then฀led฀me฀to฀consider฀ the฀ aptness฀ of฀ late฀ twentieth-century฀ yuppie฀ habits฀ of฀ consumption฀ as฀ a฀ ...

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