Newell Ann Van Auken teaches in the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Iowa.

• AcknowledgmentsScholarly ConventionsIntroductionText, Commentary, and AuthorityThe Spring and Autumn: An Overview and Brief Reception HistoryThe Zuô Tradition and Spring and Autumn CommentaryOverview of the Book1. Orthodoxy and Transformation: Two Categories of CommentaryDù Yù's "Preface": Zhōu Gōng and ConfuciusAfter Dù Yù: Reception and Rejection of the Direct Commentary PassagesPerceptions of the Direct Commentary's Place in Zuô Tradition Composition HistoryGeneral and Specific Remarks: NomenclatureFormal Description of the Direct Commentary Passages2. The Ritual Filter and the Centrality of LǔReporting and RecordingThe Centrality of the Lǔ RulerTardiness"Avoiding the ugly"The Ritual Filter: Rules, Ritual Deficiencies, and Criticism3. Hierarchy, Criticism, and Commendation: Recognizing Merit and Assigning FaultRank, Hierarchy, and PrestigeCriticism and Assignment of FaultCommendation and Honor"Subtle words conveying praise and blame" Revisited4. Two Ways of Teaching the Spring and Autumn: The Sources of the Direct CommentariesBefore Interlinear CommentariesThematic Clustering and the Source of the Specific RemarksThe "Fifty Generalizations"Teaching and Commentary: Texts for Teaching Texts5. Other Approaches to Commentary in the Zuô Tradition: The Gentleman and ConfuciusThe Remarks of the "Gentleman" and "Confucius" versus the Direct CommentaryIntroducing Ambiguity: Composite Passages and ConflationsA Commentarial Essay: Merging Approaches to History"Only the Sage could have revised it"From Ritual Prescriptions to Praise and Blame6. Incomplete Correspondences and the Likelihood of MediatedContact: The Relation of the Direct Commentaries to Gōngyáng and GǔliángThe Direct Commentaries as Later Interpolations?Comparison of Corresponding Gōngyáng and Gǔliáng, and Direct Commentary RemarksFormulaic Expressions, Complexity, and SpecificityApproaches to Commentary: Teaching Texts and Teaching about Texts7. From Recording Rules to Written Text: Conceptual Antecedents to Gōngyáng and Gǔliáng in the Direct CommentariesRules of Exclusion Pertaining to Records: Omitted Events and Exceptional RecordsRules of Exclusion and Omission of Details: Names, Dates, and LocationsThe Special Status of Lǔ: Implicit Assumptions versus Overt RecognitionHidden Messages and the Language of Praise and BlameConclusions: The Commentarial Transformation of the Spring and AutumnEpilogueFrom Zhōu Gōng to Confucius: Textual Creation Myths Forgotten and ReplacedAppendixSummaries and Topical Lists of the Direct Commentary PassagesSummaries: Specific RemarksSummaries: General RemarksTopical Lists of Direct Commentary PassagesNotesBibliographyIndex

"…this book is a finely illuminating piece of research and exposition, executed with great care and precision." — Dao