The Zhuangzi chapters 8-16: patterns of coherence in a seemingly discontinuous text
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The Zhuangzi chapters 8-16 are usually regarded as disconnected series of texts. The most influential theories of the Zhuangzi origins (Graham, Liu Xiaogan) attribute the chapters to two different groups of Zhuangzi’s “followers”. The dividing line between these two groups’ texts is supposed to be in the middle of chapter 11. This paper approaches the chapters from different angle. It argues that patterns of coherence can be found in these chapters as a whole. The paper explores the following features of the text: 1) it shows that ideas traditionally attributed to the two groups of “followers” are distributed across the chapters in more complicated way (there is no clear dividing line in chapter 11). 2) The paper explores the vocabulary used in these chapters and argues that there is a shared vocabulary and concepts across the chapters. The paper concludes that the chapters 8-16 can be read as a group of chapters sharing distinct political and self-cultivation ideas and suggests that there might be a conscious editorship behind these chapters (as opposed to the usual image of two groups of texts of different origin being simply lined up one after another). |
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