Author Description

This dissertation is on the foundations of Liu Xie's (c.465--522) literary thought. It focuses on the first five chapters of Wenxin diaolong (The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons), what Liu Xie calls the "pivot of literature": the question of its origins and foundation. I examine the interfaces among Dao (the great way of the cosmos), the Confucian Classics, and Buddhism in Liu Xie's literary theory. I argue that in the "pivot of literature" Liu Xie draws key links between Dao, the Confucian Classics, and literature. First, Liu Xie attempts to establish that the natural Dao is the ontological foundation of literature. Second, Liu Xie takes the Classics to be the direct source of literary genres and the paradigm of literary excellence. Third, he attributes the new literary features of decorative diction of his day, imagination, and emotional expression to the influence of apocryphal writings and the Songs of Chu (an anthology of rhymed, metrical works of the Chu region from ca. 475 B.C. to ca. 221 B.C). By including these in the "pivot of literature", he advocates the development of "pure literature." The "pivot of literature" sets up the framework and basic principles for a system of literary thought encompassing the ontological foundation of literature, its origins, the characteristic features of "pure literature," and the potential for literary change. Liu Xie's theory opens the way for new directions and qualities to emerge in the subsequent development of Chinese literature.