Text and Paratext: Prefaces to Literary Gatherings in Early Medieval China.
This article reassesses the development of the preface as a literary genre through an examination of a preface composed by Yan Yanzhi 顏延之 (384-456) for an imperial banquet held in 434. The preface by Yan Yanzhi is an important example of the phenomenon of the paratext whose fame came to surpass that...
| Publicado en: | Journal of the American Society for Premodern Asia (JASPA) Vol. 146; no. 3; pp. 427 - 444 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA)
Jul-Sep2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=196645958&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 196645958 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00030279 NZ6S jtl: Journal of the American Society for Premodern Asia (JASPA) issn: 00030279 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul-Sep2026 vid: 146 iid: 3 pid: 1463 pub: American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA) artinfo: ui: 196645958 10.7817/jaspa.146.3.2026.ar017 ppf: 427 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 6.5MB tig: atl: Text and Paratext: Prefaces to Literary Gatherings in Early Medieval China. aug: au: DUFFY, KAY affil: University of British Columbia su: Paratext Literary form Authors Scholarships China sug: subj: China Paratext Literary form Authors Scholarships ab: This article reassesses the development of the preface as a literary genre through an examination of a preface composed by Yan Yanzhi 顏延之 (384-456) for an imperial banquet held in 434. The preface by Yan Yanzhi is an important example of the phenomenon of the paratext whose fame came to surpass that of its text. Although this work was well-regarded during and after the author's lifetime, later critics have viewed it as excessive in length and insufficient in its treatment of the poems it ostensibly accompanied. Modern scholarship has struggled to reconcile the ostentatious rhetoric and grand scale of Yan Yanzhi's work with the paratextual functions of the preface. An overview of early prefaces, with attention to the subgenre of prefaces to banquet poem collections, reveals that, far from disregarding the functional requirements of prefaces, Yan Yanzhi builds on an existing framework to construct a work befitting his task and worthy of the occasion. In situating Yan Yanzhi's preface within the development of the genre, this discussion highlights the representation and expression of authority (in both senses of the word) in prefaces and contributes to ongoing research on imperial engagement with literary composition in Chinese courts. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of the American Society for Premodern Asia (JASPA) is the property of American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of the American Society for Premodern Asia (JASPA) holder: American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA) dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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