Taoism and East Asian Literary Theories: Chuang Tzuis Theory of Selflessness and the Poetics of Self-effacement

This article examines several East Asian literary theories that emphasize self-effacement, self-abandonment, and self-surrender and explores Chuang Tzu's ideas of self-forgetting or selflessness as part of the philosophical background of the theories. Examples are drawn from the works of Ssu-K'ung T'u, Yi Kyu-bo, Yi I, Yi Sang-jong, Zeami, Matsuo Basho, and Wang Fu-chih.