Tropes of Entanglement and Strange Loops in the “Nine Avowals” of the Chuci

Tropes of Entanglement and Strange Loops in the “Nine Avowals” of the Chuci

Author: 
Williams, Nicholas Morrow
Publisher: 
Cambridge University Press
Date published: 
2018
Record type: 
Journal Title: 
Bulletin of the school of Oriental and African studies
Source: 
Bulletin of the school of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 81, N0. 2, February 2018 pp. 277-300
Abstract: 

The literary form and rhetorical structure of ancient Chinese poems have not been sufficiently studied. The "Jiu zhang" (Nine Avowals) attributed to Qu Yuan contain distinctive formal features which are highly suggestive for interpretations of Qu Yuan's life and works. At the level of rhetoric, the protagonist frequently describes his own mental state using metaphors of knots and entanglement. At the level of form, the internal structure of the poems, and "Chou si" (Unravelled Yearnings) in particular, involves series of overlapping, cross-referencing units that recall the "strange loop" discussed by Douglas Hofstadter as a model of human consciousness. Reading these poems is not just a matter of reconstructing their historical contexts but also of understanding their intended effects on the reader, who is effectively transported into a simulation of Qu Yuan's mind.

Language: 
Country focus: 

CITATION: Williams, Nicholas Morrow. Tropes of Entanglement and Strange Loops in the “Nine Avowals” of the Chuci . : Cambridge University Press , 2018. Bulletin of the school of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 81, N0. 2, February 2018 pp. 277-300 - Available at: https://library.au.int/tropes-entanglement-and-strange-loops-“nine-avowals”-chuci