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I picked up Robert Ford Campany's book Strange Writing: Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China at Powell's back in August. And it's taken me this long to get around to reading it. But in a way I'm really glad I did wait as the knowledge I picked up about Chinese religion and history in the past 4 months really made a big difference. Campany works at the university of Indiana as a professor of religion and East Asian studies. I read his bio at the university and he seems to be interested in exactly the same things about Chinese religion that I am. I wish I could go study with him. I just can't see Bill and I living in Indiana! Maybe he'll get transfered to somewhere civilized. But I loved this book.
He looked at the tradition of writings about the strange and unnatural. Events such as stories of strange lands, creatures, encounters with ghosts and gods. But rather than simply look at them from a folkloric point of view, or as the beginnings of fiction. He did a in depth analysis of these writings from their historical context. What the authors were trying to say in their writings. Where these writing traditions came from, how they justified themselves compared to other writings, such as the traditional histories.
The book starts with a look at writings about the other. How when there is a centralized power then what happens on the periphery becomes considered to be strange and exotic. Early writers of these accounts were these types of writing. Writing about the out most edges of the world for the benefit of the Emperor. He has a huge list of these texts, describing the origins of each, which survied, which didn't and which are likely to have been written later. Very much an interesting and important reference tool. Though at this point I think the Classic of Mountains and Seas is the only one translated into English.
He did a very good and detailed analysis of the formulas and patterns of these anomaly accounts. It would almost be a guide of how to write your own early medieval Chinese anomaly account. Including which phrases signify the change of which events. He gave a very detailed outline in several points of the main parts of the stories, actually I should also call them accounts as it was clear they were not intended to be fiction. There was an intriguing part where he looked at someone else's (I'm sorry I forget who) analysis of stories of the strange that had this great continuum of stories that seemed to have fantastical events but turned out to be logical explanations, stories where the events seemed logical but turned out to be fantastic, stories where the reader decided whether the events were fantastic or not, and those where they clearly were.
He looked at the different types of anomalies locations, degrees (such as very large creatures), boundary crossing beings, interbreeding, transformation, marvelous effects, etc.
The perspective of the different authors was also important there were the Fangshi writers, Buddhist and Daoist ideas that were being put forth in the accounts, often trying to further a particular belief, or challenge an existing view of the world. But the most interesting view was the "heaven and humanity" which is a phrase i hadn't come across before. But I definitely need to do more research on. They looked at the boundary between heaven and people. It was no longer just the adepts or immortals that were having meetings with divine of supernatural beings, rather it was something that was available to everyone. Humanity was connected to all species in the heavens and in the earth, seen and unseen, and that these connections affected the whole of humanity and not just the ruler.
The last chapter was all about crossing boundaries, the dead, ghosts, acting very much like people, spiritual beings and stories about animals. All wonderful and fascinating. I loved this book so much, so well documented, such great in-depth analysis. His second book is a translation and analysis of an older Daoist text which I think I will have to get. It was originally 90 dollars, but is on the publishers website for 30 which seems very reasonable, at least for a good scholarly text.
He looked at the tradition of writings about the strange and unnatural. Events such as stories of strange lands, creatures, encounters with ghosts and gods. But rather than simply look at them from a folkloric point of view, or as the beginnings of fiction. He did a in depth analysis of these writings from their historical context. What the authors were trying to say in their writings. Where these writing traditions came from, how they justified themselves compared to other writings, such as the traditional histories.
The book starts with a look at writings about the other. How when there is a centralized power then what happens on the periphery becomes considered to be strange and exotic. Early writers of these accounts were these types of writing. Writing about the out most edges of the world for the benefit of the Emperor. He has a huge list of these texts, describing the origins of each, which survied, which didn't and which are likely to have been written later. Very much an interesting and important reference tool. Though at this point I think the Classic of Mountains and Seas is the only one translated into English.
He did a very good and detailed analysis of the formulas and patterns of these anomaly accounts. It would almost be a guide of how to write your own early medieval Chinese anomaly account. Including which phrases signify the change of which events. He gave a very detailed outline in several points of the main parts of the stories, actually I should also call them accounts as it was clear they were not intended to be fiction. There was an intriguing part where he looked at someone else's (I'm sorry I forget who) analysis of stories of the strange that had this great continuum of stories that seemed to have fantastical events but turned out to be logical explanations, stories where the events seemed logical but turned out to be fantastic, stories where the reader decided whether the events were fantastic or not, and those where they clearly were.
He looked at the different types of anomalies locations, degrees (such as very large creatures), boundary crossing beings, interbreeding, transformation, marvelous effects, etc.
The perspective of the different authors was also important there were the Fangshi writers, Buddhist and Daoist ideas that were being put forth in the accounts, often trying to further a particular belief, or challenge an existing view of the world. But the most interesting view was the "heaven and humanity" which is a phrase i hadn't come across before. But I definitely need to do more research on. They looked at the boundary between heaven and people. It was no longer just the adepts or immortals that were having meetings with divine of supernatural beings, rather it was something that was available to everyone. Humanity was connected to all species in the heavens and in the earth, seen and unseen, and that these connections affected the whole of humanity and not just the ruler.
The last chapter was all about crossing boundaries, the dead, ghosts, acting very much like people, spiritual beings and stories about animals. All wonderful and fascinating. I loved this book so much, so well documented, such great in-depth analysis. His second book is a translation and analysis of an older Daoist text which I think I will have to get. It was originally 90 dollars, but is on the publishers website for 30 which seems very reasonable, at least for a good scholarly text.