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Book Synopsis

Analyzes the use of anecdotes as an essential rhetorical tool and form of persuasion in various literary genres in early China.

Between History and Philosophy is the first book-length study in English to focus on the rhetorical functions and forms of anecdotal narratives in early China. Edited by Paul van Els and Sarah A. Queen, this volume advances the thesis that anecdotes-brief, freestanding accounts of single events involving historical figures, and occasionally also unnamed persons, animals, objects, or abstractions-served as an essential tool of persuasion and meaning-making within larger texts. Contributors to the volume analyze the use of anecdotes from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty, including their relations to other types of narrative, their circulation and reception, and their central position as a mode of argumentation in a variety of historical and philosophical literary genres.

Between History and Philosophy

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    A Paperback by Paul van Els, Sarah A. Queen

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      Publisher: State University Press of New York (SUNY)
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 7/2/2018 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN13: 9781438466125, 978-1438466125
      ISBN10: 1438466129

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Analyzes the use of anecdotes as an essential rhetorical tool and form of persuasion in various literary genres in early China.

      Between History and Philosophy is the first book-length study in English to focus on the rhetorical functions and forms of anecdotal narratives in early China. Edited by Paul van Els and Sarah A. Queen, this volume advances the thesis that anecdotes-brief, freestanding accounts of single events involving historical figures, and occasionally also unnamed persons, animals, objects, or abstractions-served as an essential tool of persuasion and meaning-making within larger texts. Contributors to the volume analyze the use of anecdotes from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty, including their relations to other types of narrative, their circulation and reception, and their central position as a mode of argumentation in a variety of historical and philosophical literary genres.

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