Shunqing Cao & Liu Shishi
(Sichuan University, China)

11 September 2024 (Wednesday) at 10:00 CET
Institute of World Literature SAS

This talk aims to explore how the body concept in The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons (hereafter Wen Xin Diao Long) represents a unique perspective in Chinese literary theory, linking literary works with human physiological structures such as form, spirit, blood, qi, and organs, forming a “heterogeneous isomorphism” in poetics. According to Liu Xie, literary works possess a unique “form” and “spirit”, akin to the human body. This viewpoint is deeply influenced by traditional Chinese “philosophy of experience”, where the style and substance of poetry correspond to the physical features of the human body. Through this analogy, literary creation is not only a mental activity but also an extension of bodily behavior, achieving a fusion of emotion and style, which resonates with the idea that the body is a unity of flesh and spirit. This lecture points out that the body concept plays a central role in ancient Chinese literary criticism, encompassing material aspects (such as the five senses, skin, hair, muscles, and bones), sensory functions (such as sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch), and spiritual dimensions (such as qi, spirit, and rhythm). This body concept has promoted the development of Chinese poetics towards the psychologization of nature and the anthropomorphization of natural objects, laying the foundation for body aesthetics research, making it an important field following various modern aesthetic schools.

With the development of Western body aesthetics, ancient Chinese body concepts have attracted increasing attention. Beyond the Western dualistic view of mind and body, Chinese scholars have begun to emphasize the traditional holistic conception of mind and body, particularly in the literary criticism of the Wei-Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties periods. Here, body metaphors were widely used in the evaluation of poetry, emphasizing the intrinsic connection between artistic works and the corporeal experiences of creators. The body metaphors in Wen Xin Diao Long are not merely critical techniques but also a way of being, embodying a human-centered intentional thinking. Through a detailed analysis of the body metaphors in Wen Xin Diao Long, we can better understand the complex relationship between the body and literature in ancient literary criticism, which is significant for constructing a native Chinese body aesthetics system. The application of body metaphors in Wen Xin Diao Long not only reveals the profound connection between literary creation and human bodily experience but also provides a unique perspective for understanding the essence and creative process of literary works in ancient China.

Shunqing Cao is Distinguished Professor at Sichuan University, member of European Academy of Sciences and Arts. His research areas are comparative literature and poetics; he has proposed Variation Theory of comparative literature – for more see his book about the theory in English (2015).

Liu Shishi is a PhD candidate of the College of Literature and Journalism of Sichuan University. Her research interests are comparative poetics and Variation Theory of comparative literature.