Chinese Theories of Reading And Writing: A Route to Hermeneutics And Open Poetics

Traditional China does not lack conceptual inquiries into reading and writing, but the insights are scattered in different kinds of discourses and have never been synthesized into a clearly defined system. Whether in Chinese or other languages, a systematic study of Chinese theories of reading and writing in intellectual thought and critical practice is long overdue. This study attempts to fill that blank. It argues that the Chinese tradition has formed an implicit system of reading and writing with fascinating insights that not only predated similar ideas in the West by centuries but also anticipated contemporary ideas of hermeneutic openness and open poetics. Furthermore, it seeks to construct a Chinese system of hermeneutic theories, reflect on it from a comparative perspective, and tease out theoretical insights that may contribute to the formulation of a transcultural open poetics for textual criticism and creative composition.