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Speaker: Paul W. Kroll, University of Colorado
Medieval Chinese poetry, like most self-consciously traditional literature, embraces learning, presumption, and intertextuality with ardor. Scholarship delights to roam in these fields which provide rich fare for the mind. But those moments that suddenly engage the heart (a somewhat neglected organ in the postmodern era) affect us at a deeper level. It is for these irregular but personally cherished splendors and miseries that one continues to read throughout a lifetime. In this lecture readings and interpretations will be offered especially from two medieval poets with rather contradictory histories—Lu Zhaolin 盧照鄰 from the mid-seventh century and Jiang Yan 江淹 from the late fifth century. Reflecting on their works may also prod us to consider the critical limits latent in the reputed “death of the author.”
Part of the Fairbank Center China Humanities Seminar Series