In Praise of Blandness: Proceeding from Chinese Thought and AestheticsA consideration of blandness not as the absence of defining qualities but as the harmonious union of all potential values--an infinite opening into human experience. Already translated into six languages, Francois 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. |
From inside the book
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... Song dynasty literati to , among other things , their own historical latecomer status , arriving as they did on the tail of their lofty predecessors of the golden age of the Tang . But here they will see this understanding recast in a ...
... Song dynasty in the eleventh century . Blandness is now openly acknowl- edged as an ideal in the creation of poetry : In composing a poem , in the present as in the past , Only the creation of the plain and bland is hard . ' - - It is ...
... Song dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi in the Four Books . Mi Fu ( or Fei ) ( 1052-1107 ) An eccentric painter , calligrapher , collector , and connoisseur , he typified the seamless blending of high erudition and spontaneous , unpredictable ...
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In Praise of Blandness: Proceeding from Chinese Thought and Aesthetics François Jullien No preview available - 2007 |