Wang Fuzhi's Theory of Poetic Categories

Author: Cui Haifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692), styled E'nan, was known as Jiangzhai and respectfully called Shanshan Master. He was from Hengyang. In 1642, during the Ming Chongzhen era, he passed the provincial examination. When the Qing army invaded Hunan, he joined Guan Siqui and others in resisting them at Hengshan. After the uprising failed, he fled to Zhaoqing and served as a envoy in the Nanming Guowang regime. Due to his opposition to Wang Huacheng, he nearly fell into prison. Later, he went to Guilin to join Qu Shisi. When Guilin fell, Qu Shisi died, and Wang Fuzhi retreated to the mountains. From then on, he devoted himself to writing for forty years. He studied various fields such as astronomy, calendar, mathematics, and geography, with particular expertise in classics, history, and literature. His main contribution was summarizing and developing traditional Chinese materialism in philosophy. His major works include Treatise on the I Ching, Explanations of the Book of Documents, Commentary on the Complete Works of the Four Books, Annotations on Zhangzi's Zhengmeng, Yellow Book, and Commentary on the Mirror of the Jìn Dynasty. Deng Xianhe and others compiled his works into Shanshan's Collected Works. Wang Fuzhi was one of the most important poets of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Due to various reasons, the influence of his poetics has long been obscure. In recent years, academia has increasingly recognized the importance of Wang Fuzhi's poetics, and his status and influence have gradually become prominent. This book is a specialized study on Wang Fuzhi's poetics from the perspective of categories, with a focus on exploring concepts such as "talent and emotion," "substance and form," and "host and guest" in his poetic thought. The exploration of these conceptual categories is pioneering in the field of Wang Fuzhi's poetics research and represents innovation and breakthroughs.