| Summary: |
The focus of this book is a kind of Chinese poetics that I
name "the poetics of paradox" because it espouses the paradoxical
view that in poetry, the less is said, the more is
meant. Since this poetics originated from a paradoxical view
of language seen in early Chinese texts, I deal first with the
paradox of language. Instead of proceeding immediately to
show how the paradoxical view of language led to the emergence
of the poetics of paradox, I consider the nature of all
poetics as a metaparadox in chapter 2, before presenting the
poetics of paradox in chapter 3. In chapter 4, I discuss the
implications of the poetics of paradox for interpretation and
the paradoxical nature of interpretation itself. I further.sug:
gest possible points of convergence between the iraditioaaL
Chinese poetics of paradox and contemporary Western poetics
and hermeneutics.
Throughout the book I juxtapose Chinese and Western
texts without regard for chronology. I do so not in an antihistorical
or ahistorical spirit but for the following reasons.
First, I am not concerned with claiming chronological priority
for Chinese poetics, but with calling attention to a particular
kind of Chinese poetics that is intrinsically interesting and
that provides points of fruitful comparison with Western poetics.
Second, I believe that only by means of juxtapositions
of texts from Iwo ,different traditions-ean-we bring into relief what is truly distinctive in each tradition. Third, such juxtaposition
will also enable us to become aware of the unspoken
presuppositions about the nature of language, poetry, poetics,
and interpretation that underlie each tradition, thus paving
the way for; a^^iruin£ly_coiriparati^4X)eJics,-freeirom
both Eurocentnsm and Sinocenixisiri_
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