Chinese Theories of Reading and Writing: A Route to Hermeneutics and Open Poetics

Notes

223 Notes P R EFAC E 1. Kermode, Art of Telling, 7. I N T RO D U C T I O N . T H E O RY O F F I C T I O N 1. Eagleton, After Theory, 88. 2. J. Hillis Miller, “Narrative,” in Lentricchia and McLaughlin, Critical Terms for Literary Study, 66. 3. Barthes, Image-Music-Text, 79. 4. See Hanan, “Early Chinese Short Story: A Critical Theory in Outline,” 299– 338; Hanan, Chinese Short Story; Hanan, Chinese Vernacular Story; Plaks, Chinese Narrative ; Ye Lang, Zhongguo xiaoshuo meixue; Wu Gongzheng, Xiaoshuo meixue; Rolston, ed., How to Read the Chinese Novel; Wang Rumei and Zhang Yu, Zhongguo xiaoshuo lilun shi; and Meng Zhaolian and Ning Zongyi, Zhongguo xiaoshuo yishu shi. 5. The only exception is Andrew Plaks’s study. He has conducted conceptual inquiries into Chinese narrative and published a few articles. His focus, however, is a broad one on “narrative.” See his “Conceptual Models in Chinese Narrative Theory,” 25–47; “Towards A Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative,” Chinese Narrative, 309–52; and “Full-length Hsiao-shuo and the Western Novel: A Generic Reappraisal,” 163–76. 6. I have thumbed through the current fiction scholarship and found that histories of fiction number in the triple digits. A major research project on Chinese fiction sponsored by the Chinese State Commission of Education has turned out eighteen book-length studies of Chinese fiction, which include Han Wei Liuchao xioashuo shi 漢 魏六朝小說史, Sui Tang Wudai xiaoshuo shi 隋唐五代小說史, Song Yuan xiaoshuo shi 宋元小說史, Mingdai xiaoshuo shi 明代小說史, Qingdai xiaoshuo shi 清代小說史, Wan Qing xiaoshuo shi 晚清小說史, Biji xiaoshuo shi 筆記小說史, Chuanqi xiaoshuo shi 傳 奇小說史, Huaben xiaoshuo shi 話本小說史, Zhanghui xiaoshuo shi 章回小說史, Lishi xiaoshuo shi 曆史小說史, Shenguai xiaoshuo shi 神怪小說史, Shiqing xiaoshuo shi 世情 小說史, Xiayi gong’an xiaoshuo shi 俠義公案小說史, Zhongguo xiaoshuo lilun shi 中國小 說理論史, Zhongguo xiaoshuo yishu shi 中國小說藝術史, Zhongguo xiaoshuo wenhua shi 224 CHINESE THEORIES OF FICTION 中國小說文化史, and Zhongguo xiaoshuo yanjiu shi 中國小說研究史.The titles of them inform us that all of these are histories of fiction, which deal with either a historical period or a fictional genre. 7. See Bishop, “Some Limitations of Chinese Fiction,” 237–47. 8. Zheng Zhenduo, “Shuihu zhuan de yanhua” 112–13. 9. Irwin, The Evolution of a Chinese Novel, 5, 23. 10. Birch, foreword, xi. 11. M. D. Gu, “Is Mimetic Theory in Literature and Art Universal?” 459–99, and Gu, “Mimetic Theory in Chinese Literary Thought,” 403–24. 12. Dolezel, Heterocosmica; Cohn, Distinction of Fiction. 13. Wang Rumei and Zhang Yu, Zhongguo xiaoshuo lilun shi, 13. 14. Rolston, Reading and Writing between the Lines, 131. 15. Wang Rumei and Zhang Yu, Zhongguo xiaoshuo lilun shi, 1. 16. Mill, “What Is Poetry?” 537. 17. See the concluding chapter of Freedman’s Lyrical Novel, 271–83. 18. See “The Inspiration,” in Lau et al., Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas, 419. 19. Wang Rumei and Zhang Yu, Zhongguo xiaoshuo lilun shi, 14. 20. J. J. Y. Liu, Chinese Theories of Literature, 1. 21. Eco, Aesthetics of Chaosmos, 1. 22. Ibid. 23. Schorer, “Technique as Discovery,” 102. 24. Fowler, Linguistics and the Novel, 3. C H A P T ER 1. C H I N ES E N O T I O N S O F F I C T I O N 1. Reed, Exemplary History of the Novel, 24, 22, 56. 2. Martin, Recent Theories of Narrative, 28. 3. Plaks, “Conceptual Models in Chinese Narrative Theory,” 27. 4. The earliest appearance of the term xiaoshuo is found in the fourth century BC, while xushi (narration) did not appear until the Tang. 5. Plaks, ed., Chinese Narrative, 309. 6. Scholes and Kellogg, Nature of Narrative, 8. 7. Ibid., 3. 8. Bakhtin, “Epic and Novel,” 61. 9. Lawrence, Phoenix, 528. 10. Patrick Hanan, “The Early Chinese Short Story,” 300. 11. Mair, “Narrative Revolution in Chinese Literature,” 21–22. 12. J. A. Cuddon, A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, 343. 13. Plato from a negative perspective and Aristotle from a positive perspective viewed poetry,which includes lyrics,epics,and drama,as fiction,because poetry denotes a thing made, having a status of falsehood, feigning, and even lying. In his study of fiction , Frye adopts a similar position in his study of fictional modes. See Anatomy of Criticism, 33–67. 14. Y. W. Ma, “Fiction,” 31. 15. S. Lu, From Historicity to Fictionality, 51. 16. Modified from Watson’s translation, in Zhuangzi, Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 296 17. See Xunzi, Xunzi yizhu 荀子譯注, 491. 18. Wilhelm, “Notes on...