Fusion of Critical Horizons in Chinese and Western Language, Poetics, Aesthetics

“In this ambitious study, which should prove central to further work on these topics, Ming Dong Gu challenges the notion of a fundamental opposition between Western and Chinese aesthetics and undertakes a comparative study of a series of important issues in literary aesthetics, illuminating similarities and differences.”

—Jonathan Culler, Class of 1916 Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Cornell University, USA

“Gu’s latest book sets a new ground for conceptual and scholarly inquiries into China-West humanities and proposes a paradigm shift from ethnocentric criticism to global aesthetics. Both erudite and provocative, Gu demonstrates a methodology that will inspire anyone interested in comparative studies.”

—David Wang, Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature, Harvard University, USA

This book begins with a reflection on dichotomies in comparative studies of Chinese and Western literature and aesthetics. Critiquing an oppositional paradigm, Ming Dong Gu argues that despite linguistic and cultural differences, the two traditions share much common ground in critical theory, aesthetic thought, metaphysical conception, and reasoning. Focusing on issues of language, writing, and linguistics; metaphor, metonymy, and poetics; mimesis and representation; and lyricism, expressionism, creativity, and aesthetics, Gu demonstrates that though ways of conception and modes of expression may differ, the two traditions have cultivated similar aesthetic feelings and critical ideas capable of fusing critical and aesthetic horizons. With a two-way dialogue, this book covers a broad spectrum of critical discourses and uncovers fascinating connections among a wide range of thinkers, theorists, scholars, and aestheticians, thereby making a significant contribution  to bridging the aesthetic divide and envisioning world theory and global aesthetics.

Ming Dong Gu is Distinguished Professor of Foreign Studies at Shenzhen University, China, and Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Dallas, USA. His recent books include Why Traditional Chinese Philosophy Still Matters (2018) and Sinologism: An Alternative to Orientalism and Postcolonialism (2013).