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Essays on the Shishuo xinyu
Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is a study of the Shishuo xinyu, the most important anecdotal collection of medieval China—and arguably of the entire traditional era. In a set of interconnected essays, Jack W. Chen offers new readings of the Shishuo xinyu that draw upon social network analysis, performance studies, theories of ritual and mourning, and concepts of gossip and reputation to illuminate how the anecdotes of the collection imagine and represent a political and cultural elite. Whereas most accounts of the Shishuo have taken a historical approach, Chen argues that the work should be understood in literary terms.
At its center, Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is an extended meditation on the very nature of the anecdote form, both what the anecdote affords in terms of representing a social community and how it provides a space for the rehearsal of certain longstanding philosophical and cultural arguments. Although each of the chapters may be read separately as an essay in its own right, when taken together, they present a comprehensive account of the Shishuo in all of its literary complexity.
At its center, Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is an extended meditation on the very nature of the anecdote form, both what the anecdote affords in terms of representing a social community and how it provides a space for the rehearsal of certain longstanding philosophical and cultural arguments. Although each of the chapters may be read separately as an essay in its own right, when taken together, they present a comprehensive account of the Shishuo in all of its literary complexity.
Essays on the Shishuo xinyu
Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is a study of the Shishuo xinyu, the most important anecdotal collection of medieval China—and arguably of the entire traditional era. In a set of interconnected essays, Jack W. Chen offers new readings of the Shishuo xinyu that draw upon social network analysis, performance studies, theories of ritual and mourning, and concepts of gossip and reputation to illuminate how the anecdotes of the collection imagine and represent a political and cultural elite. Whereas most accounts of the Shishuo have taken a historical approach, Chen argues that the work should be understood in literary terms.
At its center, Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is an extended meditation on the very nature of the anecdote form, both what the anecdote affords in terms of representing a social community and how it provides a space for the rehearsal of certain longstanding philosophical and cultural arguments. Although each of the chapters may be read separately as an essay in its own right, when taken together, they present a comprehensive account of the Shishuo in all of its literary complexity.
At its center, Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is an extended meditation on the very nature of the anecdote form, both what the anecdote affords in terms of representing a social community and how it provides a space for the rehearsal of certain longstanding philosophical and cultural arguments. Although each of the chapters may be read separately as an essay in its own right, when taken together, they present a comprehensive account of the Shishuo in all of its literary complexity.
Prose and Aesthetic in Early Modern China
The civil service examination essay known as shiwen (modern or contemporary prose) or bagu wen (eight-legged essay) for its complex structure was the most widely read and written literary genre in early modern China (1450–1850). As the primary mode of expression in which educated individuals were schooled, shiwen epitomized the literary enterprise even beyond the walls of the examination compound. But shiwen suffered condemnation in the shift in discourse on literary writing that followed the fall of the Ming dynasty, and were thoroughly rejected in the May Fourth iconoclasm of the early twentieth century. Challenging conventional disregard for the genre, Alexander Des Forges reads the examination essay from a literary perspective, showing how shiwen redefined prose aesthetics and transformed the work of writing. A new approach to subjectivity took shape: the question “who is speaking?” resonated through the essays’ involuted prose style, foregrounding issues of agency and control. At the same time, the anonymity of the bureaucratic evaluation process highlighted originality as a literary value. Finally, an emphasis on questions of form marked the aesthetic as a key arena for contestation of authority as candidates, examiners, and critics joined to form a dominant social class of literary producers.
Prose and Aesthetic in Early Modern China
The civil service examination essay known as shiwen (modern or contemporary prose) or bagu wen (eight-legged essay) for its complex structure was the most widely read and written literary genre in early modern China (1450–1850). As the primary mode of expression in which educated individuals were schooled, shiwen epitomized the literary enterprise even beyond the walls of the examination compound. But shiwen suffered condemnation in the shift in discourse on literary writing that followed the fall of the Ming dynasty, and were thoroughly rejected in the May Fourth iconoclasm of the early twentieth century. Challenging conventional disregard for the genre, Alexander Des Forges reads the examination essay from a literary perspective, showing how shiwen redefined prose aesthetics and transformed the work of writing. A new approach to subjectivity took shape: the question “who is speaking?” resonated through the essays’ involuted prose style, foregrounding issues of agency and control. At the same time, the anonymity of the bureaucratic evaluation process highlighted originality as a literary value. Finally, an emphasis on questions of form marked the aesthetic as a key arena for contestation of authority as candidates, examiners, and critics joined to form a dominant social class of literary producers.
In 1964-1965 Herbert Buhr published his ‘Bestimmungstabellen der Gallen (Zoo- und Phytocecidien) an Pflanzen Mittel- und Nordeuropas’. These keys were developed in the great tradition of cecidology in Europe. During the second half of the twentieth century a new generation of cecidologists expanded significantly our knowledge of plant galls and their distribution, about doubling the knowledge known before.
We concentrated on Buhr’s keys, but implemented additions, especially for Southern Europe, from Houard (1908-1913): Les zoocécidies des plantes d’Europe et du bassin de la Méditerranée. The nomenclature of as well gall inducers as host plants has been updated, and information about specific groups of gall inducers has been reviewed and new insights have been given by a team of specialists. To the proxy 9,000 galls and malformations described by Buhr and Houard, we added about 1,250 new galls which have been described in the more recent literature. Moreover, we collected distribution data for total Europe and, if available, adjacent areas.
VOLUME I: Abies-Myrrhis
VOLUME II: Narcissus-Zygophyllum
VOLUME III: References, Plates, Index
We concentrated on Buhr’s keys, but implemented additions, especially for Southern Europe, from Houard (1908-1913): Les zoocécidies des plantes d’Europe et du bassin de la Méditerranée. The nomenclature of as well gall inducers as host plants has been updated, and information about specific groups of gall inducers has been reviewed and new insights have been given by a team of specialists. To the proxy 9,000 galls and malformations described by Buhr and Houard, we added about 1,250 new galls which have been described in the more recent literature. Moreover, we collected distribution data for total Europe and, if available, adjacent areas.
VOLUME I: Abies-Myrrhis
VOLUME II: Narcissus-Zygophyllum
VOLUME III: References, Plates, Index
In 1964-1965 Herbert Buhr published his ‘Bestimmungstabellen der Gallen (Zoo- und Phytocecidien) an Pflanzen Mittel- und Nordeuropas’. These keys were developed in the great tradition of cecidology in Europe. During the second half of the twentieth century a new generation of cecidologists expanded significantly our knowledge of plant galls and their distribution, about doubling the knowledge known before.
We concentrated on Buhr’s keys, but implemented additions, especially for Southern Europe, from Houard (1908-1913): Les zoocécidies des plantes d’Europe et du bassin de la Méditerranée. The nomenclature of as well gall inducers as host plants has been updated, and information about specific groups of gall inducers has been reviewed and new insights have been given by a team of specialists. To the proxy 9,000 galls and malformations described by Buhr and Houard, we added about 1,250 new galls which have been described in the more recent literature. Moreover, we collected distribution data for total Europe and, if available, adjacent areas.
VOLUME I: Abies-Myrrhis
VOLUME II: Narcissus-Zygophyllum
VOLUME III: References, Plates, Index
We concentrated on Buhr’s keys, but implemented additions, especially for Southern Europe, from Houard (1908-1913): Les zoocécidies des plantes d’Europe et du bassin de la Méditerranée. The nomenclature of as well gall inducers as host plants has been updated, and information about specific groups of gall inducers has been reviewed and new insights have been given by a team of specialists. To the proxy 9,000 galls and malformations described by Buhr and Houard, we added about 1,250 new galls which have been described in the more recent literature. Moreover, we collected distribution data for total Europe and, if available, adjacent areas.
VOLUME I: Abies-Myrrhis
VOLUME II: Narcissus-Zygophyllum
VOLUME III: References, Plates, Index
F. M. Alexander-Technik und ihre Anwendung am Klavier
„Die normale Anpassung des durchschnittlich gut angepassten Menschen bedeutet, dass man vielem in sich selbst den Rücken kehrt. Eine fortgesetzte Zurückweisung vieler Tiefen der mensch-lichen Natur bedeutet Spaltung. Doch steht fest, dass man eine ganze Menge verliert, indem man so verfährt, denn diese Tiefen sind auch die Quelle des Vergnügens.“ (Abraham A. Maslow) Alexander-Technik und ihre Anwendung am Klavier führt Sie in diesem Buch Schritt für Schritt zu den wunderbaren Tiefen und zur Quelle des Vergnügens in Ihnen selbst
F. M. Alexander-Technik und ihre Anwendung am Klavier
„Die normale Anpassung des durchschnittlich gut angepassten Menschen bedeutet, dass man vielem in sich selbst den Rücken kehrt. Eine fortgesetzte Zurückweisung vieler Tiefen der mensch-lichen Natur bedeutet Spaltung. Doch steht fest, dass man eine ganze Menge verliert, indem man so verfährt, denn diese Tiefen sind auch die Quelle des Vergnügens.“ (Abraham A. Maslow) Alexander-Technik und ihre Anwendung am Klavier führt Sie in diesem Buch Schritt für Schritt zu den wunderbaren Tiefen und zur Quelle des Vergnügens in Ihnen selbst
Mapping German Cities in Sebastian Münster’s 'Cosmographia'
In Networked Nation: Mapping German Cities in Sebastian Münster’s 'Cosmographia', Jasper van Putten examines the groundbreaking woodcut city views in the German humanist Sebastian Münster’s Cosmographia. This description of the world, published in Basel from 1544 to 1628, glorified the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and engendered the city book genre. Van Putten argues that Münster’s network of city view makers and contributors—from German princes and artists to Swiss woodcutters, draftsmen, and printers—expressed their local and national cultural identities in the views. The Cosmographia, and the city books it inspired, offer insights into the development of German and Swiss identity from 1550 to Switzerland’s independence from the empire in 1648.