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The Poetics of Repetition in English and Chinese Lyric Poetry

Online ISBN:
9780226780221
Print ISBN:
9780226780207
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press
Book

The Poetics of Repetition in English and Chinese Lyric Poetry

Published online:
21 February 2013
Published in print:
15 January 2011
Online ISBN:
9780226780221
Print ISBN:
9780226780207
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press

Abstract

For more than half a century, Chinese-Western comparative literature has been recognized as a formal academic discipline, but critics and scholars in the field have done little to develop a viable, common basis for comparison between these disparate literatures. This book establishes repetition as the ideal perspective from which to compare the poetry and poetics from these two traditions. The book contends that repetition is at the heart of all that defines the lyric as a unique art form and, by closely examining its use in Chinese and Western poetry, it demonstrates how one can identify important points of convergence and divergence. Through a representative sampling of poems from both traditions, the book illustrates how the irreducible generic nature of the lyric transcends linguistic and cultural barriers, but also reveals the fundamental distinctions between the traditions. Most crucially, it dissects the two radically different conceptualizations of reality–mimesis and xing–that serve as underlying principles for the poetic practices of each tradition.

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