Textual Patterns and Cosmic Designs in Early China

Via a hermeneutics focused on Chinese numerology and concentric arrangements, this book offers a novel construal of the textual universe proper to early China writings. The author lays bare distinguishable patterns of textual composition while relating them to corresponding patterns of thinking. He differentiates rhetorical variants through detailed studies of the Zhuangzi's Inner chapters, the Laozi, the Analects, and the Huainanzi. The philosophical depth and relevance of the Chinese ancient worldview appear in a fresh light when one unearths the patterns into which its content is embedded. The focus on textual patterns and rhetorical arrangements also facilitates the reading of Chinese classics alongside other traditions. The book will be a valuable reference for scholars and graduate students studying Chinese literary criticism, Chinese philosophy, and comparative philosophy.

Benoît Vermander is professor of religious anthropology at Fudan University (Shanghai), where he also teaches the hermeneutic of Chinese Classics. He heads the Xu-Ricci Dialogue Institute in the same university. His research interests and publications focus on cross-cultural hermeneutic, comparative classics, and Chinese religiosities.

1: Shaping and Numbering 2: Orbiting the Huainanzi 3: The Zhuangzi's Inner Chapters: Thinking within and outside Circles 4: Confucius and the Hen-Pheasant 5: The Laozi as a Topological Space