Since the 1970s, a view that describes the entire Chinese literary tradition as what it calls “a lyrical tradition” (shuqing chuantong 抒情傳統) has attracted successive efforts to elevate it into something of a paradigm. Under this paradigm, lyricism (shuqing 抒情) is singled out as both the principal impetus behind different forms of literary creations and the aesthetic underpinning of the “Chineseness” of Chinese literature. Although much of this paradigm can be, and has been, critiqued, this talk points to another aspect of it so far little addressed. Instead of a literary tradition the paradigm tries to trace all the way back to the Classic of Poetry 詩經 and Lyrics of Chu 楚辭, lyricism is more of an interpretive construct attributed to those poetic works now regarded as the beginning of the “lyrical tradition.” This lyricization of Chinese poetry, I further argue, began already in the early Western Han (202 BCE–9 CE), when the two collections gradually took shape and became canonical. What the “lyrical tradition” reflects is a modern iteration of an ancient project, the different goals and provenances of which merit further consideration. 

Bio:
Zhuming Yao is Assistant Professor of Chinese & Comparative Literature at Boston University. He works on classical Chinese literature of the early and early imperial eras, with a particular interest in poetics, hermeneutics, comparative antiquity, and manuscript culture. Zhuming’s first book project examines the literary significance of the oral word in early Chinese writings, offering an account of how writing valorizes the oral form and, in turn, appropriates its discursive appeal. Zhuming’s most recent works have appeared in or are forthcoming from T’oung Pao, Asia Major, and Early China. Before joining BU in 2024, Zhuming received his PhD from Princeton University.

Moderator: Miya Qiong Xie, Associate Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature, Dartmouth College

Co-Sponsored by the Department of Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages and the Program of Comparative Literature, Dartmouth College.