Crafting a Book: The Sequel to The Plum in the Golden Vase

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqiao Ling
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Original Work ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Implied Author ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
Jin Ping Mei ◽  
Print Industry

Abstract This paper examines the book form of the original woodblock edition (ca. 1660) of Xu jin ping mei 續金瓶梅 (The sequel to Jin ping mei), a sequel to the acclaimed yet controversial sixteenth-century vernacular novel Jin ping mei 金瓶梅 (Plum in a golden vase). Critics tend to hold Xu jin ping mei in low regard because the sequel’s extensive citations from religious texts and morality books disrupt the flow of the narrative. As this paper shows, such ‘weakness’ is part of the sequel writer’s conscious exploration of the productive gap between the text and the book as an object—cover page, the front matter, illustration and fiction commentary all contribute to the totality of the bound text as an object of connoisseurship. Another indicator of the author-editor’s effort at creating the sequel’s own social reception is a list of cited books that captures the full spectrum of textual production in the seventeenth century, thereby inscribing Xu jin ping mei in a cultural matrix that accommodates multiple modes of reading with a sense of hierarchy. To situate Xu jin ping mei in the context of the burgeoning print industry will help us go beyond the textual level to assess the sequel as an important cultural phenomenon. It is exactly the desire to cash in on the popularity of the original masterworks that pushes author, editor, and publisher to craft the book as a referential field in which the implied author engages anticipated readers of different dispositions to comment on, extend, and improve the original work.

Dieva īpašību atainojums latviešu tautasdziesmās teopoētikas kontekstā

2020 ◽  
pp. 390-404
Author(s):  
Eva Mārtuža
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Folk Songs ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Specific Expression ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Intellectual Activity ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Perceptions Of God

An innovative view to theological texts as a literary genre has been established in research of the modern religions and designated as theopoetics, because, irrespective of whether a theological text is written in the poetic genre, in the form of a story or the style of a more dense, theoretical prose, it is based on the poesis: innovative, intuitive and an imaginary composition of the authors where the central figure is God. Therefore, approximately ten thousand recorded and published folk songs, as well as other Latvian folklore texts about God, are equal to theopoetics as a genre of creative writing with its specific expression tools. Folk songs are a product of purposeful human spiritual/intellectual activity and imagination, a typical cultural phenomenon of the relevant society, which helps to study the public’s views about the perception of God. To approach adequately to analysis and interpretation of such texts, in the late 20th century, a new method of research on religious texts – theopoetics – was established. Theopoetics is a method of analysing religious texts that encourages us to look at the ancient metaphors of God from another angle. It explores the language possibilities of figuratively creating God’s patterns, unlike the previous “scientific” God’s theories as the systematic attempt of theology to find God through the living (“incarnated”) God. Theopoetics theorists accept reality as a source of divine revelation as well as personal experience and metaphor-influenced divine understanding in various religions. This method allows to establish the essence and possible interpretations of the basic metaphors used in every individual religion: 1) critically weigh up the previous explanations of God; 2) study the interaction of applied metaphors, models and concepts within religion; 3) offers the potential of transformative, revolutionary models, using the language and metaphor layer that is widely understandable and used by people in everyday life. Research of metaphors does not impose objective or general criteria for assessing understanding of God; therefore, the aim of theopoetical discourse is not to prevent competing interpretations but to multiply the number of perceptions of God, to extend the emotional feeling, and to reveal new opinions. Folk songs figuratively represent God in metaphors and comparisons, but the theopoetics method has not been applied in the previous studies of God either because it is a relatively new methodological system, or because God’s perception in the folk songs has not been the focus of researchers of contemporary religions.

scholarly journals Ecclesiastical Chronotaxes of the Renaissance

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-154
Author(s):  
Damiano Acciarino
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
First Time ◽  
Academic Debate

During the sixteenth century, confessional disputes between Catholics and Protestants became the “battlefield” for determining and shaping the reformed Christian religion. Antiquarian erudition played a key role in this process, acting in accordance with the diverse cultural systems in place, justifying doctrinaire positions, and legitimizing the existence of their institutions. Renaissance chronotaxes illustrate this point particularly well. In this article, for the first time, the ecclesiastical chronotaxes disseminated to Christian scholarly environments throughout Renaissance Europe have been collated and studied. Both the driving forces behind this cultural phenomenon and the methods applied are investigated. The key objective here is to present the first catalogue of these works and to offer valuable material that sheds further light on the cultural, historical, and religious dynamics of the time, which may serve as the basis for further academic debate. Pendant le seizième siècle, les disputes confessionnelles entre catholiques et protestants sont devenues le champ où s'est déroulée la bataille qui donna naissance et forme à la religion chrétienne réformée. L’érudition antiquisante a joué un rôle majeur à ce stade, comme référence commune partagée par les différents systèmes culturels qui s'affrontaient, qui permettait de justifier des positions doctrinales et de légitimer l’existence des diverses institutions confessionnelles. Les chronotaxes de la Renaissance en sont un exemple idéal. Dans cet article, pour la première fois, sont colligées et étudiées les chronotaxes ecclésiastiques, qui se sont répandues dans les milieux chrétiens érudits de l’Europe de la Renaissance. On examine à la fois les sources de ce phénomène culturel, et les méthodes de leur application. L’objectif principal de cette étude est de présenter le premier catalogue de ce phénomène, ainsi que plusieurs renseignements éclairant certaines dynamiques culturelles, historiques et religieuses de l’époque. Cela pose les bases pour la poursuite de recherches sur ce sujet.

Buddhist Monuments Across the Bay of Bengal: Cultural Routes and Maritime Networks

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-180
Author(s):  
Himanshu Prabha Ray
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Bay Of Bengal ◽  
North India ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
Religious Architecture ◽  
Central Java ◽  
South And Southeast Asia

AbstractReligious architecture, often called ‘monuments’ within the current understanding of ancient shrines, are prominent features of the landscape in South and Southeast Asia. Many of these sites are admired for their artistic and aesthetic appeal and are centres of tourism and travel. This paper traces the historical trajectory of three contemporary monuments of Buddhist affiliation across the Bay of Bengal, namely Nalanda in north India, Borobudur in Central Java, and Nakhon Pathom in Central Thailand to address both their distinctiveness and their interconnectedness. The paper also focuses on the extent to which these shrines reflect the religious theories that prevailed between the sixth and the thirteenth centuries AD and are currently known to us through religious texts. It is not often appreciated that ‘collections’ of religious texts, as well as the ‘discovery’ of monuments were mediated through the priorities and practices of European and Western scholars from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The history of the study of Buddhism shows that it centred on religious texts and philosophical doctrines produced by a small group of monastic elites, with little attention paid to the more difficult questions of the contexts underlying textual production and circulation. This paper suggests that it is important to factor in the colonization of South and Southeast Asia into any discussion on the understanding of religions and monuments, as well as current interest in these monuments, which are also World Heritage Sites and associated with present interests in maritime heritage.

The Many Musical Medievalisms of Disney

2020 ◽  
pp. 689-708
Author(s):  
John Haines
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Sleeping Beauty ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Common View ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Animated Films ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Middle Ages

This essay argues that the Disney Company is one of today’s main purveyors of medievalism. The idea of Disney as a force for medievalism may strike some academic readers as odd, given the still common view of medievalism as a primarily academic phenomenon. Rather, as argued in the first part of this essay, medievalism is a widespread cultural phenomenon, originating in the sixteenth century, out of which academic medievalism emerged in the eighteenth century. As part of this broader cultural medievalism, the Disney Company has played an increasingly important role in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Rather than the literalist historical medievalism that usually preoccupies academics, the Disney Company has followed a looser approach centered on key stereotypes, in keeping with the earliest and most pervasive concept of the Middle Ages from the sixteenth century onward. In all its medievalist products, ranging from early animated films to Fantasyland’s iconic monument the Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disney has made music a primary concern.

New Light on the Early History of the Breve Compendio. The Background to the English Translation of 1612

1957 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.F. Allison
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Original Work ◽  
Present Note ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Early History ◽  
History Of

Twenty-five years ago two scholars working independently published the results of their researches on the origin and early history of the late sixteenth century mystical treatise known as Breve compendio intorno alla perfezione cristiana. Marcel Viller S. J., in an article in Revue d'ascétique et de mystique (1931), settled the question of authorship and provided an invaluable account of the circumstances in which the treatise was composed. Jean Dagens, writing in Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique (1931) on Bérulle’s Bref discour de l'abnégation intérieure, which is based on the Breve compendio, discussed the history of the work in France. These two studies aroused considerable interest at the time and led to the publication of further articles and notes. Dagens summarises the results of this research in his chapter on the Bref discours in his recent extensive study, Bérulle et les origines de la restauration catholique, 1575–1611 (1952). After such thorough investigation it may seem doubtful whether any further really important discoveries are likely to be made, but within certain limits there is still scope for enquiry, and in the present note I want to discuss briefly an English translation of the Breve compendio, first published in 1612, which was unknown to Viller and Dagens. First it will be necessary to summarise what they say about the early history of the original work.

Rhetorical Delivery for Renaissance English: Voice, Gesture, Emotion, and the Sixteenth-Century Vernacular Turn

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 1265-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Wesley
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Emotional Contagion ◽  
Titus Andronicus ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
Physical Defects ◽  
Rhetorical Delivery

AbstractIn the sixteenth century, perceptions of the English language changed from one of barbaric inadequacy to that of rare eloquence. Accounts for this shift tend to focus on literary or textual production, but this essay shows how these very linguistic concerns were motivated by the nonlinguistic practices appropriate to Latin rhetorical delivery(pronuntiatio et actio). The emotional contagion, legitimization of the inarticulate, cultural contextualization, and overcoming of natural physical defects that all stand at the heart of delivery here situate vernacular uplift at the corporeal level. The essay ends with an illustrative reading of William Shakespeare’sTitus Andronicus.

Huayrachinas and Tocochimbos: Traditional Smelting Technology of the Southern Andes

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Van Buren ◽  
Barbara H. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
Southern Andes ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Technological Processes ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
Production Site ◽  
Different Types

AbstractMetal production has been a key economic activity in the southern Andes for the last 2,000 years, but relatively little is known about the indigenous technology used to process and smelt ores, in part because these activities are often difficult for investigators to identify in the archaeological record. In 2001 and 2002, members of the Proyecto Arqueológico Porco-Potosí had the opportunity to observe the use of indigenous smelting technology to produce silver in southern Bolivia. The data generated by these ethnographic observations, as well as by historical texts that describe traditional smelting, are used to interpret a sixteenth-century metal production site excavated by the authors in Bolivia and two production locales reported from Argentina and Chile. This assessment suggests that a great deal of variability existed in the metallurgical traditions of the southern Andes, and that the full spectrum will only be understood if archaeologists can recognize the material correlates of different types of technological processes.

scholarly journals Reflections on the Status of Hungarian Loanwords in Old Romanian Translations

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-226
Author(s):  
Enikő Pál
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Source Language ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
Great Complexity ◽  
The Ideal

AbstractTranslation has always been important for religion as a way of preaching God's word. The first Romanian translations of religious texts, including the first (although incomplete) translation of the Bible, date from the sixteenth century. In this early period of Romanian writing, Romanian translators encountered several problems in conveying the meaning of these texts of a great complexity. Some of the difficulties were due to the source texts available in the epoch, others to the ideal of literal translation, to the principle of legitimacy or to the relatively poor development of Romanian language which limited the translators' options. The present study focuses on the causes and purposes for which lexical items of Hungarian origin interweave old Romanian translations. In this epoch, Hungarian influence was favoured by a complex of political, legal, administrative and socioculturel factors, sometimes even forced by these circumstances. On the one hand, given the premises of vivid contacts between Romanians and Hungarians in the regions where the old Romanian translations (or their originals) can be located, a number of Hungarian loanwords of folk origin penetrated these texts. On the other hand, when using Hungarian sources, translators have imported useful source language caiques and loanwords, which have enriched Romanian language.

Riddles in Jin Ping Mei

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-370
Author(s):  
Thomas Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Character Development ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Jin Ping Mei ◽  
Entertainment Culture

Abstract Jin Ping Mei cihua 金瓶梅詞話 (Plum in the Golden Vase) displays an unprecedented interest in breaking apart and reassembling the components of words. This essay asks where the Cihua edition's fascination with character manipulation (a procedure the author refers to as chaibai daozi 拆白道字) comes from and how it relates to literary riddles that precede and follow this landmark sixteenth-century novel. Jin Ping Mei cihua enlarges the presentation and associations of riddles in fiction through its engagement with contemporaneous theatrical literature and the entertainment culture of the brothel. Later commentators, notably Zhang Zhupo 張竹坡 (1670–1698), reorganize the game sequences within which bouts of character manipulation are embedded for the purposes of narrative prolepsis and character development, advocating an approach to reading enigmas as portents that influenced late imperial novelists. In doing so, however, they efface the Cihua's unruly celebration of contingency, the novel's seductive insinuation that it might be written otherwise.

scholarly journals « Moy Traductrice » : le façonnement de la figure auctoriale dans le paratexte des traductions de Marie de Gournay

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 119-134
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Beaulieu
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
The Self ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
Interpretive Frame ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Marie Le Jars de Gournay’s prolific textual production has attracted increasing scholarly attention in the last few years. One of the still relatively understudied parts of her oeuvre comprises the five translations from Latin that occupy 274 out of the 995 pages of her 1641 Advis. As Montaigne’s “fille d’alliance”, she seems to be mainly known for her French versions of the Latin quotations in the Essais; however, her own translations from Ovid’s Elegies or Virgil’s Aeneid have been largely overlooked, as well as the liminary writings—some of which prove quite substantial, as her De la façon d’escrire de Messieurs l’eminentissime Cardinal du Perron et Bertaut—where Gournay offers her remarks on the art of translation. In this essay, I wish to focus on these paratextual writings to examine the self-defining strategies employed by Marie de Gournay in order to legitimize her translation activities. Faced with the obstacles caused by “the little credit given to [her] sex”, as well as the specific challenges posed by her sources, Gournay interestingly presents her work as composed in “such an unscholarly season” (“une saison si peu studieuse”), that is at a time when the humanist ideals of the sixteenth century were no longer valued. This article seeks to attend to the ethos constructed through the dedications and other liminary pieces in the second book of the Advis, and to examine how Gournay’s discursive ethos serves to anticipate and guide the reception of her translations. In this context, paratexts should be viewed, not as mere accessories, but rather as an essential discursive framework for the interpretation of Gournay’s translations—it is actually quite clear from the arrangement of the volume that the liminary material was designed as a tight interpretive frame for the translated texts. This study will eventually allow us to determine the place of translation within the range of authorial practices embraced by Marie de Gournay.

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