Chinese Theories of Reading and Writing - A Route to Hermeneutics and Open Poetics (Electronic book text, New ed.)

This ambitious work provides a systematic study of Chinese theories of reading and writing in intellectual thought and critical practice. The author maintains that there are two major hermeneutic traditions in Chinese literature, the politico-moralistic mainstream and the metaphysico-aesthetical undercurrent. In exploring the interaction between the two. Ming Dong Gu finds a movement toward interpretive openness. In this, the Chinese practice anticipates modern and Western theories of interpretation, especially literary openness and open poetics. Classic Chinese works are examined, including the "Zbouyi (the "I Ching or Book of Changes), the "Shijing (the "Book of Songs or Book of poetry), and selected poetry; along with the philosophical backgound of the hermeneutic theories. Ultimately, Gu relates the Chinese practices of reading to Western hermeneutics offering a cross-cultural conceptual model for the comparative study of reading and writing in general.