Metamorphosis of the private sphere : gardens and objects in Tang-Song poetry / Xiaoshan Yang.

Author
Yang, Xiaoshan, 1959- [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Cambridge : Harvard University Asia Center : Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2003.
Description
x, 301 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Availability

Available Online

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
East Asian Library - Western Languages PL2321 .Y39 2003 Browse related items Request
    Marquand Library - Remote Storage: Marquand Use OnlyPL2321 .Y39 2003 Browse related items Request

      Details

      Subject(s)
      Series
      Harvard East Asian monographs ; 225. [More in this series]
      Summary note
      "This book delineates the correlation between the evolution of the private sphere and the conscious efforts of Chinese literati to search for and formulate alternatives when conventional values, whether political, moral, or aesthetic, were found to be inapplicable or inadequate." "In addition to exploring the garden as the physical space of the private sphere, this book examines the modes in which certain cultural artifacts (for example, fantastic rocks, rare birds, and precious paintings) moved to and across different private spaces. It also exemplifies ways in which the private sphere could become problematic or even collapse as its values confronted the norms of the public domain." "Drawing on a wealth of textual sources, the author offers a detailed study of the functions of gardens and the aesthetic objects placed in them in the emotional and psychological lives of their owners and sheds light on aspects of Chinese literati culture in the Tang-Song period that have not received adequate scholarly attention."--Jacket.
      Bibliographic references
      Includes bibliographical references (p. [257]-270) and indexes.
      Contents
      • 1. Having It Both Ways: Manors and Manners in Bai Juyi's Poetry
      • The Estate and the State
      • How to Possess a Garden
      • The Middling Hermit
      • 2. The Poetics of Space: Presence and Mediation
      • A Gated Space
      • Naturalizing the Garden
      • Nature Framed, Nature Reflected
      • Southern Landscapes in Northern Gardens
      • 3. Fetishism and Anxiety: A Poetic Biography of Fantastic Rocks
      • Obsession and Fetishism in the Chinese Tradition
      • The Rock Topos in Pre-Tang Poetry
      • The Ugly, the Grotesque, and the Useless
      • Niu Sengru's Petromania
      • From Apologia to Satire
      • The Philosophical Critique in the Northern Song
      • Redefining the Ugly, the Grotesque, and the Useless
      • Reconciling Theory and Practice
      • Coda
      • 4. Words and Things: The Exchange of Poetry and the Poetry of Exchange
      • A Tale of Two Cranes
      • A Beloved Concubine in Exchange for a Horse
      • Spontaneous Artistry and Calculated Exchanges
      • Three Poems, Two Rocks, One Painting
      • 5. Old Men at Home: The Rhetorics of Joy and Leisure
      • The Transcendence of Sorrow and the Theme of Joy
      • Glorifying the Community of Joyful Elders
      • (Dis)Content with Leisure
      • Back to Gardens
      • Postscript: Reflections on the Private Sphere.
      Other title(s)
      Gardens and objects in Tang-Song poetry
      ISBN
      • 0674012194 ((alk. paper))
      • 9780674012196 ((alk. paper))
      LCCN
      2003049903
      OCLC
      52086096
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