Speaker: Wendy Swartz, Rutgers University

This lecture will examine accounts of wen (writing, literary creation) by two of China’s earliest and most innovative literary theorists: “Rhapsody on Writing” by Lu Ji and The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons by Liu Xie. Writing on creativity and implicitly advocating for human creation was an act more audacious and ambitious than the modern reader might think. By the period of early medieval China, there was already a long-established proscription against making claims of “creation” (zuo), considered to be the prerogative of ancient sages. This proscription can be traced to Confucius’ famous pronouncement recorded in the Analects, in which he expressed his reverence for antiquity, and perhaps also for a perceived mystery, even sacredness, inherent in creation: “I transmit and do not create.” Both Lu Ji and Liu Xie deftly circumvented the traditional aversion to claiming creation. Each also limned the writing process in varying degrees of detail, while exposing its challenges and exalting the role of the mind (xin) in this process. This lecture will cast light on how investigating this process involved reflecting on matters of considerable importance not only in literary history, but also in human history, such as tradition, culture, invention, originality, conception, expression, identity, work, and ownership.