The Metacritical Transformations of a Divinatory Text A Fishian Analysis of the YI

Sam Holland

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Newman, John

Keywords

I Ching, Yijing, Fish, Stanley, Criticism, Reader-Response

Area of Concentration

General Studies

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to implement an iconoclastic, relativist take on metacritical theory into a critical history of the Yijing. The basis of this approach is the work of Stanley Fish's idea that the meanings of a work are effectively created by the readers themselves, rather than existing wholly formed in the text to be found by the eager critical reader. In moderation, this provides a powerful way to analyze a text such as the Yijing, which has been the subject of wildly varying interpretations over the 2,800 years since its composition. It provides a framework for explaining why there can be such divergent interpretations arising from the same set of characters. This can then be used to construct a new kind of critical history of the ways in which the Yijing has been read over its history, one which differentiates the viewpoint of the author of the historical survey. Five divergent ways of reading the Yijing are examined: the Modern Scholars, the Confucian commentators, Wang Bi, Chi-hsu Ou-i, and the author's own viewpoint.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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