Screen LibraryThe inscription of things : writing and materiality in early modern China /
"The Matter of Inscription investigates how early modern writers scrutinized human attachments to the material world by engraving words onto things. "Inscription" (ming), a genre of Chinese literature linked to the sages of antiquity, typically took the form of a terse poem or epigram...
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| Main Authors: | |
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| Published: |
Columbia University Press,
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| Publisher Address: | New York, NY : |
| Publication Dates: | [2023] |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: |
English Chinese |
| Subjects: | |
| Summary: |
"The Matter of Inscription investigates how early modern writers scrutinized human attachments to the material world by engraving words onto things. "Inscription" (ming), a genre of Chinese literature linked to the sages of antiquity, typically took the form of a terse poem or epigram etched upon the surface of the object it names. These short messages, some only 8 or 12 characters long, speak with and as things, personifying objects or addressing them as if they could talk back. Late imperial authors, facing profound upheavals in the marketplace and the violent destruction of war, turned to inscription to probe and reimagine the connections between human bodies and the everyday things they surround themselves with. The book argues that inscription-the act of carving words on objects-became a central means through which late imperial authors conceived of their relationship to the technology, material infrastructure, and futures of writing"-- |
| Carrier Form: | xi, 354 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [319]-340) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9780231209632 0231209630 9780231209625 0231209622 |
| Index Number: | CN1160 |
| CLC: | K877.42 |
| Call Number: | K877.42/K298 |
| Contents: | Introduction. The Matter of Inscription -- On Remnant Things -- Writing with a Knife -- The Ink-Maker's Mark -- Antiquarian Poetry -- Epilogue. Broken Stones. |