| Keywords in Chinese Culture Contributor(s): Li, Wai-Yee (Editor), Pines, Yuri (Editor) |
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ISBN: 9882371191 ISBN-13: 9789882371194 Publisher: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press OUR PRICE: $54.45 Product Type: Hardcover Published: June 2020 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Asian - Chinese |
| Physical Information: 1.34" H x 6.22" W x 9.13" (1.90 lbs) 468 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Chinese |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Like every major culture, Chinese has its set of keywords: pivotal terms of political, ethical, literary, and philosophical discourse. Tracing the origins, development, polysemy, and usages of keywords is one of the best ways to chart cultural and historical changes. This volume analyzes some of these keywords from different disciplinary and temporal perspectives, offering a new integrative study of their semantic richness, development trajectory, and distinct usages in Chinese culture. The authors of the volume explore different keywords and focus on different periods and genres, ranging from philosophical and historical texts of the Warring States period (453-221 BCE) to late imperial (ca. 16th-18th centuries CE) literature and philosophy. They are guided by a similar set of questions: What elevates a mere word to the status of keyword? What sort of resonance and reverberations do we expect a keyword to have? How much does the semantic range of a keyword explain its significance? What kinds of arguments does it generate? What are the stories told to illustrate its meanings? What are political and intellectual implications of the keyword's reevaluation? What does it mean to translate a keyword and map its meaning against other languages? Throughout Chinese history, new ideas and new approaches often mean reinterpreting important words; rupture, continuities, and inflection points are inseparable from the linguistic history of specific terms. The premise of this book is that taking the long view and encompassing different disciplines yield new insights and unexpected connections. The authors, who come from the fields of history, philosophy, and literature, explore keywords in different genres and illuminate their multiple dimensions in various contexts. Moreover, despite their different temporal focus, they take into consideration the development of selected keywords from the Warring States to the late imperial period, sometimes adding excurses that extend to contemporary usage. |
Contributor Bio(s): Li, Wai-Yee: - Wai-yee Li is professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University. She is the author of Women and National Trauma in Late Imperial Chinese Literature (Harvard University Asia Center, 2014) and The Readability of the Past in Early Chinese Historiography (Harvard University Asia Center, 2007). |