Pollockâs Comparative Wake-Up Call: Towards the Conceptual Modeling of Premodern Literary Cultures and Institutions

Wiebke Denecke

Jump to Content

Chapter 2 Pollockâs Comparative Wake-Up Call: Towards the Conceptual Modeling of Premodern Literary Cultures and Institutions

äºCosmopolitan and Vernacular in the World of Wen æ

èèï¼

Wiebke Denecke

Wiebke Denecke
Search for other papers by Wiebke Denecke in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

ç±»å:: ç« è

Page Range:: 69â95

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004529441_004

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

â¬42.00â¬35.00Â excl. VAT

Add to Cart

æ¾åè®¿é®ä»¤ç

Abstract

As Sheldon Pollockâs model of a âSanskrit Cosmopolisâ is currently inspiring philologists of other premodern macro-regions bounded by cosmopolitan linguae francaeâbe they Persianate, Babylonian, slowly also Latinâto think about the configuration of languages, literatures, and power in their worlds of study, scholars of Japan, Korea, Vietnam (and China) struggle to decide whether, or how, Pollockâs model is applicable to premodern East Asia. Pollock was himself explicit about his doubts and, indeed, striking differences in the mediating function of scripts and languages, the centrality and universalization of Chinese writing and textuality, language ideology, and distinctive features of literary cultures offer significant difference and divergence. Most of the debates among East Asian scholars in response to Pollock have gravitated towards a diagnostics of the various linguistic manifestations of the âcosmopolitanâ and âvernacularâ across East Asian history. The heuristic stimulus that Pollockâs model has provided might indeed be more important than narrow notions of its applicability. In this spirit, this chapter takes inspiration from Pollockâs work on vernacularization processes as a âcomparative wake-up callâ for area specialists of various premodern worlds. And it aims to expand discussions more systematically also to the study of literary cultures and institutions, which shaped the choices we are using in our linguistic diagnostics of vernacularization processes. I showcase this by comparing the use of poetry in early Japanese and Korean historical chronicles (Kojiki å¤äºè¨ [Records of Ancient Matters] and Nihon shoki æ¥æ¬æ¸ç´ [Chronicles of Japan]; Samguk sagi ä¸åå²è¨ [History of the Three Kingdoms] and Samguk yusa ä¸åéºäº [Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms]). I focus in particular on what the divergences in their patterns of language choice of Sinitic versus vernacular genres, in their use of poetry in the portrayal of diplomacy between the East Asian states, and their dynamic of poetry exchanges suggest about differences in early Japanese and Korean literary cultures. Overall, the chapter asks how we can undertake a broader comparative historical evaluation and conceptual modeling of East Asian textual cultures and their interrelations as well as their drastic changes, period by period.

å¼ç¨ä¿¡æ¯

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share Link

Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004529441/BP000013.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Cosmopolitan and Vernacular in the World of Wen æ

Reading Sheldon Pollock from the Sinographic Cosmopolis

ä¸ç¼ï¼ Language, Writing and Literary Culture in the Sinographic Cosmopolis, å·ï¼ 5

Cover Cosmopolitan and Vernacular in the World of Wen æ

ISBN:: 9789004529441

åºçç¤¾:: Brill

å°å·åºçæ¥æ:: 25 May 2023

Subjects

Front Matter

Part 1 Beginnings: Origins and Early Centuries of the Sinographic Cosmopolis

Part 2 Medieval and Early Modern Cases from China, Japan, and Vietnam

Part 3 The Special Case of Korea: From Late ChosÅn to Colonial ChÅsen

Back Matter

ç»è®¡æ°æ®

	å¨é¨æé´	è¿å»ä¸å¹´	è¿å»30å¤©
æè¦æµè§æ¬¡æ°	1366	481	26
å¨ææµè§æ¬¡æ°	34	10	2
PDFä¸è½½æ¬¡æ°	43	15	4

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

AppBar-Authors 2025

AppBar-Open Access 2025

AppBar-Product Information 2025

AppBar-Company 2025

AppBar-Contact 2025

Chapter 2 Pollockâs Comparative Wake-Up Call: Towards the Conceptual Modeling of Premodern Literary Cultures and Institutions

Abstract

å¼ç¨ä¿¡æ¯

Share Link

Cosmopolitan and Vernacular in the World of Wen æ