Event
Paul Hsiang Lecture Series on Chinese Poetry - Tina Lu
Friday, September 19, 2025 16:00to17:45
ÂĚñÉç Faculty Club, Billiard Room, 3rd floor, 3450 McTavish Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 0E5, CA
Abstract:
Since the Mao Commentary (ca. 2nd–1st centuries BCE), “poetics” in Chinese has denoted truth-telling through words. But poetry was not the only way that premodern Chinese people understood verbal conduits from the self to the world. Focusing on the relationship between neo-Confucian yulu (“recorded sayings”) and huaben (“vernacular short stories”), I will be examining another tradition of “poetics,” or how premodern Chinese people denoted the truth. Along the way, I will be considering tongsu (common language)–not merely as a synonym for baihua (vernacular), that twentieth-century nationalized language for writing–nor as a vehicle for meaning, but instead as a medium, where what is medium and what is content is ever shifting.
For those interested, you are welcome to watch this 10-minute introduction by Prof. Lu on Ming-dynasty (14th–17th centuries) popular culture before the lecture.
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