Letters and Epistolary Culture in Early Medieval China

Antje Richter is assistant professor of Chinese language and civilization at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She previously taught at Christian Albrechts University in Kiel and Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg.

• Acknowledgments Introduction:Epistolary Research in Chinese Studies and Beyond Textual Sources of Early Medieval Chinese Letter Writing The Organization of This Book Remarks on Translation Part One. Materials and Concepts of Letter Writing1. Materiality and Terminology:The Spread of Paper Calligraphy and Letter Writing Writers and Transporters of Letters Terminology The Genre of Personal Letters 2. Letters and Literary Thought:Cao Pi's "Disquisitions on Literature" on Letters as a Genre The Absence of Letters in Lu Ji's "Rhapsody on Literature" Liu Xie's The Literary Mind and the Carvingof Dragons on Letters Letters in Xiao Tong's Selections of Refined Literature Letters about Literary Thought Part Two. Epistolary Conventions and Literary Individuality3. Structures and Phrases Letter Opening Letter Body Letter Closing Terms of Address and Self-Designation 4. Topoi Lamenting Separation Letters as Substitutes for Face-to-Face Conversation The Limits of Writing and Language 5. Normativity and Authenticity Letter-Writing Guides Expressing Individuality within the Bounds of Convention Conclusion Notes Bibliography Glossary-Index

"Richter's frequent comparisons of the culture of letter-writing in early medieval China and the Western world place Chinese letter-writing in a global context. . . . [A] solid study on letters and epistolary culture in early medieval China. She makes important contributions to the field of early medieval Chinese cultural studies in general, and to the understanding of letters as a genre as well as to the analysis of the textual characteristics of personal letters in particular."