Synthetic parallelism : a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary study

Authors

Zongqi CAI

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Tamkang Review: A Quarterly of Comparative Studies between Chinese and Foreign Literature

Publication Date

1-1-1989

Volume

20

Issue

2

First Page

151

Last Page

168

Publisher

Tamkang University

Keywords

synthetic parallelism, xing (hsing), correlative episteme, Foucault, Boodberg, Yeats, Robert Lowth, Jakobson, Jung, Pound

Abstract

Parallelism which consists in the similar form of construction rather than in content is called by Robert Lowth as synthetic parallelism. It exemplifies correlative episteme which constitutes a universal mode of understanding and poetic expression in ancient folk traditions and which provides modern Western poets, critics, and philosophers with models of non-rational thought for their revolts against the representational episteme. It is a matrix of modern literary criticism in the sense that its multiple dimensions have been used in different ways by philological, Imagist, Romantic, Jungian, and Structuralist critics to vindicate their fundamental arguments on literature and truth. With little mutual encouragement, John F. Davis, Ezra Pound, Roman Jakobson hail xing (hsing), the Chinese synthetic parallelism, as an ideal model of non-representational thinking.

Print ISSN

00492949

Publisher Statement

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Cai, Z.-q. (1989). Synthetic parallelism: A cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary study. Tamkang Review: A Quarterly of Comparative Studies between Chinese and Foreign Literature, 20(2), 151-168.

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