The poetics of sovereignty : on Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty / Jack W. Chen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chen, Jack Wei, author.

Series:

Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 71.

Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series ; 71

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sovereignty in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London : Harvard University Asia Center, [2010]

Summary:

Emperor Taizong (r. 626-49) of the Tang is remembered as an exemplary ruler. This study addresses that aura of virtuous sovereignty and Taizong's construction of a reputation for moral rulership through his own literary writings--with particular attention to his poetry. The author highlights the relationship between historiography and the literary and rhetorical strategies of sovereignty, contending that, for Taizong, and for the concept of sovereignty in general, politics is inextricable from cultural production. The work focuses on Taizong's literary writings that speak directly to the relationship between cultural form and sovereign power, as well as on the question of how the Tang negotiated dynastic identity through literary stylistics. The author maintains that Taizong's writings may have been self-serving at times, representing strategic attempts to control his self-image in the eyes of his court and empire, but that they also become the ideal image to which his self was normatively bound. This is the paradox at the heart of imperial authorship: Taizong was simultaneously the author of his representation and was authored by his representation; he was both subject and object of his writings.

Contents:

Reading the reign of Tang Taizong (r. 626-649)

On sovereignty and representation

The reception of literature in Tang Taizong's court

The writing of imperial poetry in medieval China

The significance of court poetry

Palatial form and the rhapsodic imagination

On "The imperial capital poems": ritual sovereignty and imperial askesis.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-68417-055-9

OCLC:

956711878

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9781684170555 DOI