The Comparative Study of Traditional Asian Literatures: From Reflective Traditionalism to Neo-Traditionalism

The Comparative Study of Traditional Asian Literatures: From Reflective Traditionalism to Neo-Traditionalism

by Vladimir Braginsky
The Comparative Study of Traditional Asian Literatures: From Reflective Traditionalism to Neo-Traditionalism

The Comparative Study of Traditional Asian Literatures: From Reflective Traditionalism to Neo-Traditionalism

by Vladimir Braginsky

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Overview

This book represents the first ever published introduction to the comparative study of traditional Asian literatures, embracing three vast literary zones: Arab-Islamic, Indo-South East Asian and Sino-Far Eastern. The aim of the book is to outline the main properties of Asian literatures in the period of 'reflective traditionalism' (the early centuries CE to the first half of the 19th century), when the creation of a vast body of aesthetically significant works was coupled with the emergence of literary self-awareness: when the nature of the creative process, the poetics and functions of the literary works, and the ways of their influence on the reader were thoroughly comprehended and committed to writing for the first time.
The book is intended for specialists in Asian literatures, comparative literature, and literary theory, and for students of these topics.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781138879126
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 06/09/2015
Pages: 351
Product dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Preface x

Introduction

Method, Subject and Problems of the Study 1

Method of the study 1

Subject of the study 2

Stance of the researcher vis-a-vis the subject of historico-typological studies and the prospects they open 7

Central theme and material of the study 11

Interpretation of material: the 'optics' of the study 13

Historico-typological studies in Russian comparative literature (the epoch of reflective traditionalism) 15

Principal methodological premises of the study 24

Culture 25

Culture of the reflective-tradionalist type 25

Literary canon 26

System of writings 27

Literary self-awareness 28

Literature 29

Literary aesthetics 29

Functions of literature 31

Problems of the study 32

Literary Aggregations

Essay 1 Literary Zones: Structure and Transformations 37

The emergence of literary aggregations: the transformation of zone-shaping literatures 38

From the pre-reflective traditionalist (ancient) to the reflective-traditionalist (medieval) type 38

The religious Canon 41

The system of writings 43

Fine literature 54

Time of formation of literary zones 56

Incorporation of integrated literatures 57

The stage of the emergence of a written tradition in ethnic languages within integrated literatures 58

The stage of flourishing of integrated literatures 62

Literary ties 62

Illustration 1 Traditional South East Asia as a Literary Region and Literary 'Asia in Miniature' 65

The oral 'core' of the regional aggregation 66

The 'attraction of India' and the emergence of the aggregation 67

Centrifugal and centripetal tendencies 72

Systems of writings and fine literature 75

Self-Awareness of Zone Shaping Literatures

Essay 2 The Creative Process as an Ascent: Inspiration (Receptive Stage) 88

Literature and spiritual core of tradition 90

The Absolute - inspiration - the poet 102

The 'energetics' of literature 123

Essay 3 The Creative Process as a Descent: Literary Work (Agentive Stage) 131

The universal in the system of literary expression 131

Intellectualised emotion 131

Genre structure 136

Linguistic style 148

The individual in the system of literary expression 155

The mental structure of a literary work 155

The verbal structure of a literary work 171

Essay 4 Belles-Lettres and the Reader: The Synthesis of Pragmatic and Aesthetic Effects 174

Effects of fine literature 174

Fine literature in the system of writings: several concluding observations 194

The Anthropomorphism of Literary Systems

Essay 5 The Isomorphism of Macrocosm, Microcosm and Letters as a Prerequisite of Anthropomorphic Literary Systems 206

Types of the description of macro-/microcosmic parallelism 208

Macro- and the microcosm as two copies of the sacred text 214

The sacred text as the paradigm for fine literature in its macro- and microcosmic dimensions 223

Illustration 2 The System of Classical Malay Literature as an Example of Anthropomorphic Literary Systems 230

Macro-/microcosmic parallelism and the ideological context of classical Malay literature 231

Anthropomorphism of classical Malay literature 236

Genre structures and mechanisms of poetics in different spheres of the literary system 242

Genre structures 242

Genres in the sphere of beauty 244

Genres in the sphere of benefit 249

Genres in the sphere of spiritual perfection 253

Literary synthesis in classical Malay literature 256

Instead of a Conclusion 266

Epilogue: Neo-Traditionalism

Essay 6 Neo-Traditionally and Neo-Traditionalism in Modern Asian Literatures 273

Neo-traditionality and neo-traditionalism vis-a-vis traditional and modern literature 275

Stages of neo-traditionality and neo-traditionalism 287

Some observations on neo-traditionalist poetics 293

Illustration 3 Neo-Traditionalism in Indonesian and Malaysian Literatures (Two Case-Studies) 297

Bibliography 307

Index 337

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