Between History And Philosophy: Anecdotes In Early China
by Paul van Els /
2017 / English / PDF
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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 anecdotesbrief, freestanding accounts of single events involving historical figures, and occasionally also unnamed persons, animals, objects, or abstractionsserved 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.
