Establishing Textual Identity in Early Chinese Manuscripts

Author:
Matthias L. Richter

Publisher: 
Brill

Publication Year: 
2013

Abstract: 
In The Embodied Text Matthias L. Richter offers an exemplary study of a 300 BCE Chinese manuscript, exploring significant differences between the Warring States manuscript text and its transmitted early imperial counterparts. These differences reveal the adaptation of the text to a changed political environment as well as general ideological developments. This study further demonstrates how the physical embodiment of the text in the manuscript reflects modes of textual formation and social uses of written texts.

Table of Contents:

Preliminary Material
Introduction
1. The Context of the Manuscript
2. Codicological Examination
3. Paleographic Examination
4. Presentation of the Text
5. The Extension of *Min zhi fumu
6. A Hierarchy of Criteria for Deciding on Disputed Readings
7. Variants of Little Consequence for the Content of the Text
8. Restoring Lost Manuscript Text
9. Variants Concerning the Central Ideas of the Text
10. The Core Text
11. The Evolving Role of the Odes in Ru Instruction
12. The Conclusion of the Core Text
13. Later Additions to the Core Text: Indexical Text
14. Texts as Repositories of Didactic Material: Active vs. Passive 
 Text
Conclusion
Bibliography

Index