Confucius and the AnalectsRevisited: New Perspectives on Composition, Dating, and Authorship

by Brill

Overview

Edited by Michael Hunter and Martin Kern and featuring contributions by preeminent scholars of early China, Confucius and the Analects Revisited: New Perspectives on Composition, Dating, and Authorship critically examines the long-standing debates surrounding the history of the Analects, for two millennia considered the most authoritative source of the teachings of Confucius (551–479 BCE). Unlike most previous scholarship, it does not take the traditional view of the Analects’ origins as given. Instead, it explores the validity and the implications of recent revisionist critiques from historical, philosophical, and literary perspectives, and further draws on recently discovered ancient manuscripts and new technological advances in the Digital Humanities. As such, it opens up new ways for productive engagement with the text.
Contributors: Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Paul van Els, Robert Eno, Joachim Gentz, Paul R. Goldin, Michael Hunter, Martin Kern, Esther Klein, John Makeham, Matthias L. Richter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789004382770
Publisher:	Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/29/2018
Series:	Studies in the History of Chinese Texts Series , #11
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Michael Hunter, Ph.D. (2012), Princeton University, is an Associate Professor of East Asian Languages & Literatures at Yale University. His 2017 monograph, Confucius Beyond the Analects (Brill), explores the breadth and history of early Confucius literature.

Martin Kern is the Greg (‘84) and Joanna (P13) Zeluck Professor in Asian Studies and Chair of the Department of East Asian Studies at Princeton University. He publishes widely on the textual, ritual, and political culture of early China.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables vii

Notes on Contributors viii

Introduction Michael Hunter Martin Kern 1

1 A Critical Overview of Some Contemporary Chinese Perspectives on the Composition and Date of Lunyu John Makeham 17

2 The Lunyu as an Accretion Text Robert Eno 39

3 The Lunyu as a Western Han Text Michael Hunter 67

4 Confucius and His Disciples in the Lunyu: The Basis for the Traditional View Paul R. Goldin 92

5 The Lunyu, a Homeless Dog in Intellectual History: On the Dating of Discourses on Confucius's Success and Failure Joachim Gentz 116

6 Confucius's Sayings Entombed: On Two Han Dynasty Bamboo Lunyu Manuscripts Paul van Els 152

7 Manuscript Formats and Textual Structure in Early China Matthias L. Richter 187

8 Interlocutor Collections, the Lunyu, and Proto-Lunyu Texts Mark Csikszentmihalyi 218

9 Sima Qian's Kongzi and the Western Han Lunyu Esther Sunkyung Klein 241

10 Kongzi as Author in the Han Martin Kern 268

Index 309