(Re)Reading, Reflexivity, and Peak-Experiences in Cao Xueqin's Honglou Meng

Many of Cao Xueqin's narrative innovations are exceptional for allowing him to engage his readers in a complex hermeneutical game-one in which the entire narrative is transformed into a multifaceted riddle (a type of Buddhist koan) that requires proper decipherment-and which ultimately seeks to...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Literature and theology
Main Author: Ferrara, Mark S. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Oxford University Press [2018]
In: Literature and theology
IxTheo Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
BL Buddhism
KBM Asia
TJ Modern history
VB Hermeneutics; Philosophy
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Many of Cao Xueqin's narrative innovations are exceptional for allowing him to engage his readers in a complex hermeneutical game-one in which the entire narrative is transformed into a multifaceted riddle (a type of Buddhist koan) that requires proper decipherment-and which ultimately seeks to transfer, by way of a mind-to-mind transmission, a highly particular state of perception by repeatedly calling attention to the fictionality of the text. In deploying innovative forms of reflexive inversion (such as doubling, dreaming, and punning), Cao Xueqin encourages his audience to become aware of the presence of the author, the artifice of the novel, and the paradox of fiction as a vehicle for religious truth.
ISSN:1477-4623
Contains:Enthalten in: Literature and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frx016