research-article

The Early Philosophical Discourse on Language and Reality and Lu Ji’s and Liu Xie’s Theories of Literary Creation

  • Zong-qi CAI
Expand
  • Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA

Published date: 05 Dec 2011

Copyright

2014 Higher Education Press and Brill

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to investigate how Lu Ji and Liu Xie develop their theories of literary creation on the foundation of the early philosophical discourse on language and reality. The first part of the paper examines various key terms, concepts, and paradigms developed in the philosophical discourse. The second part pursues a close reading of Lu’s and Liu’s texts to demonstrate how ingeniously they adapt and integrate those terms, concepts, and paradigms to accomplish two important tasks: to establish a broad framework for conceptualizing literary creation and to differentiate the complex mental and linguistic endeavors at different stages of the creative process. The paper ends with some general reflections on the impact of the two essays on the subsequent development of Chinese literary and aesthetic thoughts.

Cite this article

Zong-qi CAI . The Early Philosophical Discourse on Language and Reality and Lu Ji’s and Liu Xie’s Theories of Literary Creation[J]. Frontiers of Literary Studies in China, 2011 , 5(4) : 477 -510 . DOI: 10.1007/s11702-011-0139-5

Outlines

/