Dear Forum friends, we are pleased to share “Key Terms of Chinese Literary Theory,” the newest issue of the Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture (12:1) edited by Zong-qi Cai.
This special issue calls for the elevation of literary theory to a primary field in Sinological studies. Critical to this effort is promoting a greater focus on terminology rather than primarily the concepts they are intended to represent. The compounding polysemy of Chinese terms over time has produced a dynamically productive system of meanings that traditional Chinese thinkers and writers regularly deployed to often generate deliberate ambiguities in their word choices, which raised interpretation to a more creative intellectual exercise. The articles of this issue, representing cross-collaboration between Chinese and American-based scholars, bring structure to this fluid exercise by analyzing selected terms of particular significance in Chinese literature within a four-coordinate system of criticism inspired by M.H. Abrams: 1. cosmology-derived terms, 2. an author-focused term, 3. work focused terms, and 4. reception-focused terms.
The editor, Professor Zong-qi Cai, then proposes an underlying explanation for the tendency of Chinese writers to dynamically reference the full polysemic spectrum invested into specific terms. This explanation serves as a unifying theory for all Chinese literature: A holistic mode of thinking that undergirds critical discussions of all aspects of literature.
Contributors to this issue, except for two instances, collaborated to produce each article: Ye Ye and Xinda Lian; Liu Ning and Yugen Wang; Liu Xiaojun and Benjamin Ridgway; Hu Qi and Yuefan Wang; Zhou Xinglu and Thomas J. Mazanec; Zheng Lihua and Xiaoshan Yang; LuYin and Alexander Des Forges; Lucas Rambo Bender; Cheng Sudong and Stephen Roddy; Chen Guanghong and Casey Schoenberger; and Jiang Yin and Li E.
Visit here to browse the table of contents, purchase the issue, and read Zong-qi Cai’s introduction: “Toward Establishing Chinese Literary Theory as a Viable Subject of Sinological Studies”, available for free. Cick here for the journal on Project MUSE when it becomes available (subscription needed). This issue is available for purchase here: For further details, please visit Current Issue.
