In attempting to define a "poetics of paradox" from a
traditional Chinese standpoint, James Liu explores through a
comparative approach linguistic, textual, and interpretive problems
of relevance to Western literary criticism. Liu's study evolves
from a paradoxical view--originating from early Confucian and
Daoist philosophical texts--that the less is "said" in poetry, the
more is "meant." Such a view implied the existence of paradox in
the very use of language and led traditional Chinese hermeneutics
to a study of "metaparadox"--the use of language to explicate texts
the meaning of which transcends language itself.
As Liu illustrates elements of traditional Chinese hermeneutics
with examples of poetic and critical works, he makes comparisons
with the works of such Western literary figures as Shakespeare,
Mallarme, Pound, Ionesco, Derrida, and Shepard. The comparisons
bring to light a crucial difference in conceptualization of
language: Chinese critics, especially those influenced by Daoism
and Buddhism, seem to have held a deitic view of language (language
points to things), whereas Western critics seem to have thought of
language as primarily mimetic (language represents things). Liu
examines the consequences of these views, showing how both offer
insights into the "meaning" of text and to what extent both have
led to a "metaparadox of interpretation."
Originally published in 1988.
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