{"product_id":"the-inscription-of-things-9780231209625","title":"The Inscription of Things","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThomas Kelly develops a new account of the relationship between Chinese literature and material culture by examining inscribed objects from the late Ming and early to mid-Qing dynasties.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith its rigorous scholarship and insightful arguments, this book takes the analysis of how things, words, and people were entangled in the Ming-Qing period to a new level of sophistication. It is a rich and substantial advance in understanding the place of a distinctive materiality in China's literary and artistic culture. -- Craig Clunas, author of \u003ci\u003eChinese Painting and Its Audiences\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEqually at home with words and things, the author of this affecting book reveals such trivia as inscriptions for inkcakes, inkslabs, and seals to be the stuff of literature of the highest order and, in so doing, affirms precarity as a condition of possibility and creativity. -- Dorothy Ko, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Social Life of Inkstones: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis important study advances our understanding of how readers, writers, and collectors in the Ming and Qing navigated the complex connections between the written object and the physical word while remaining sensitive to the complex lives and social relations in which their textual-material creations intervened. It will be essential reading for scholars of the literature, material culture, and intellectual history of the period. -- Bruce Rusk, author of \u003ci\u003eCritics and Commentators: The \u003c\/i\u003eBook of Poems\u003ci\u003e as Classic and Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFull of illuminating insights, this nuanced study of inscriptions on a wide range of objects will be an important resource for students of writing, material culture, and media studies. -- Wei Shang, author of \u003ci\u003eWriting on Landmarks: From Yellow Crane Tower to Phoenix Pavilion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis elegant study takes up a host of difficult materials to consider afresh the relationship between Chinese literature and material culture. Beautifully researched, \u003ci\u003eThe Inscription of Things\u003c\/i\u003e will be read by historians, art historians, and scholars of literature who will particularly enjoy the fascinating sections on materials and technology, as well as the inspiring elucidation of densely allusive texts. -- Sophie Volpp, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Substance of Fiction: Literary Objects in China, 1550–1775\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis original, imaginative, and inspiring book contributes not only to a richer understanding of the media ecology in early modern China but also to an understanding of the enlarged boundaries of literature with its traversing of different material forms, discourses, and social functions. It is an epitome of excellent literary analysis—a great pleasure to read. -- Suyoung Son, author of \u003ci\u003eWriting for Print: Publishing and the Making of Textual Authority in Late Imperial China\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction: The Matter of Inscription\u003cbr\u003e1. On Remnant Things\u003cbr\u003e2. Writing with a Knife\u003cbr\u003e3. The Ink-Maker’s Mark\u003cbr\u003e4. Antiquarian Poetry\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue: Broken Stones\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49400376164695,"sku":"9780231209625","price":93.6,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780231209625.jpg?v=1730470538","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-inscription-of-things-9780231209625","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}