Description
Book SynopsisThis book presents an innovative reading of Daoist philosophy that highlights the critical and therapeutic functions of satire and humor. Moeller and D’Ambrosio show how the
Zhuangzi expounds the Daoist art of “genuine pretending”: the paradoxical skill of enacting social roles without submitting to them or letting them define one’s identity.
Trade Review[The book's] scholarship is first rate and the contribution original and timely. The authors offer genuinely illuminating and original readings of many of the widely discussed parts of the Zhuangzi. -- Barry Allen, McMaster University A highly insightful new reading of the Zhuangzi that is exceptionally sensitive to both philosophical and textual subtleties, highlighting the key theme of genuine pretending-the adoption of multiple roles while maintaining a form of radical flexibility that prevents full identification, thereby allowing all roles to be at once fulfilled and transcended. -- Brook Ziporyn, University of Chicago Divinity School
Table of ContentsForeword by Chen Guying
Preface
Introduction: A Joker in the Fold
1. Sincerity, Authenticity, and Ancient Chinese Philosophy
2. The Confucian Regime of Sincerity
3. Philosophical Humor and Incongruity in the
Zhuangzi4. Smooth Operators: The Arts of Genuine Pretending
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
