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Demonic Warfare - Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel (Hardcover)
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Demonic Warfare - Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel (Hardcover)
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Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between
vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular
language, Mark Meulenbeld argues that a specific type of Daoist
exorcism helped shape vernacular novels in the late Ming dynasty
(1368-1644). Focusing on the once famous novel Fengshen yanyi
("Canonization of the Gods"), the author maps out the general
ritual structure and divine protagonists that it borrows from much
older systems of Daoist exorcism. By exploring how the novel
reflects the specific concerns of communities associated with
Fengshen yanyi and its ideology, Meulenbeld is able to reconstruct
the cultural sphere in which Daoist exorcist rituals informed late
imperial "novels." He first looks at temple networks and their
religious festivals. Organized by local communities forterritorial
protection, these networks featured martial narratives about the
powerful and heroic deeds of the gods. He then shows that it is by
means of dramatic practiceslike ritual, theatre, and temple
processions that divine acts were embodied and brought to life.
Much attention is given to local militias who embodied "demon
soldiers" aspart of their defensive strategies. Various Ming
emperors actively sought the support of these local religious
networks and even continued to invite Daoist ritualists so asto
efficiently marshal the forces of local gods with their local demon
soldiers into the official, imperial reserves of military power.
This unusual book establishes once and for all the importance of
understanding the idealized realities of literary texts within a
larger context of cultural practice and socio-political history. Of
particular importance is the ongoing dialog with religious ideology
that informs these diff erent discourses. Meulenbeld's book makes a
convincing case for the need to debunk the retrospective reading of
China through the modern, secular Western categories of
"literature," "society," and "politics." He shows that this
disregard of religious dynamics has distorted our understanding of
China and that "religion" cannot be conveniently isolated from
scholarly analysis.
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