Letters and Epistolary Culture in Early Medieval China.

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Epistolary Research in Chinese Studies and Beyond -- Textual Sources of Early Medieval Chinese Letter Writing -- The Organization of This Book -- Remarks on Translation -- Part One. Materials and Concepts of Letter Writing -- 1. Materiality and Terminology -- The Spread of Paper -- Calligraphy and Letter Writing -- Writers and Transporters of Letters -- Terminology -- The Genre of Personal Letters -- 2. Letters and Literary Thought -- Cao Pi's "Disquisitions on Literature" on Letters as a Genre -- The Absence of Letters in Lu Ji's "Rhapsody on Literature" -- Liu Xie's The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons on Letters -- Letters in Xiao Tong's Selections of Refined Literature -- Letters about Literary Thought -- Part Two. Epistolary Conventions and Literary Individuality -- 3. Structures and Phrases -- Letter Opening -- Letter Body -- Letter Closing -- Terms of Address and Self-Designation -- 4. Topoi -- Lamenting Separation -- Letters as Substitutes for Face-to-Face Conversation -- The Limits of Writing and Language -- 5. Normativity and Authenticity -- Letter-Writing Guides -- Expressing Individuality within the Bounds of Convention -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Glossary-Index.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.