In Praise of Blandness: Proceeding from Chinese Thought and Aesthetics

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Overview

Already translated into six languages, François Jullien's In Praise of Blandness has become a classic. Appearing for the first time in English, this groundbreaking work of philosophy, anthropology, aesthetics, and sinology is certain to stir readers to think and experience what may at first seem impossible: the richness of a bland sound, a bland meaning, a bland painting, a bland poem. In presenting the value of blandness through as many concrete examples and original texts as possible, Jullien allows the ...
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More About This Book

Overview

Already translated into six languages, François Jullien's In Praise of Blandness has become a classic. Appearing for the first time in English, this groundbreaking work of philosophy, anthropology, aesthetics, and sinology is certain to stir readers to think and experience what may at first seem impossible: the richness of a bland sound, a bland meaning, a bland painting, a bland poem. In presenting the value of blandness through as many concrete examples and original texts as possible, Jullien allows the undifferentiated foundation of all things--blandness itself-- to appear. After completing this book, readers will reevaluate those familiar Western lines of thought where blandness is associated with a lack--the undesirable absence of particular, defining qualities.

Jullien traces the elusive appearance and crucial value of blandness from its beginnings in the Daoist and Confucian traditions to its integration into literary and visual aesthetics in the late-medieval period and beyond. Gradually developing into a positive quality in Chinese aesthetic and ethical traditions, the bland comprises the harmonious and unnameable union of all potential values, embodying a reality whose very essence is change and providing an infinite opening into the breadth of human expression and taste.

More than just a cultural history, In Praise of Blandness invites those both familiar and unfamiliar with Chinese culture to explore the resonances of the bland in literary, philosophical, and religious texts and to witness how all currents of Chinese thought--Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism--converge in harmonious accord.
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
"Blandness is a sub rosa self-help book and a map to the sublime." VillageVoice

Zone Books

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781890951412
  • Publisher: Zone Books
  • Publication date: 3/1/2004
  • Pages: 169
  • Product dimensions: 6.00 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

François Jullien is Professor at the Université Paris VII-Denis Diderot and director at theInstitut de la Pensée Contemporaine. He is the author of Detour and Access: Strategies ofMeaning in China and Greece, The Propensity of Things: Toward a History of Efficacy inChina, and In Praise of Blandness: Proceeding from Chinese Thought andAesthetics all published by Zone Books.

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Table of Contents

Translator's Preface 7
Prologue 23
I A Change of Sign 27
II The Landscape of the Bland 35
III Blandness-Detachment 41
IV The Sense of Neutrality 47
V Blandness in Society 55
VI Of Character: The Bland and the Plain 59
VII "Lingering Tone" and "Lingering Taste" 65
VIII Silent Music 69
IX The Blandness of Sound 79
X Blandness's Change of Signs in Literature 85
XI The Ideology of Blandness 95
XII Flavor-Beyond-the-Flavorful, Landscape-Beyond-Landscapes 103
XIII The "Margin" and the "Center" of Flavor 117
XIV Blandness or Strength 125
XV Transcendence Is Natural 139
Notes 145
App. A Notes on Major Chinese Figures Mentioned 157
App. B Glossary of Chinese Expressions 167
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