(Re)Reading, Reflexivity, and Peak-Experiences in Cao Xueqin's Honglou Meng. (15th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ferrara, Mark S
• Is Part Of: Literature and theology. Volume 32:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 87
• Page End: 99
• Publication Date: 2017-05-15
• Subjects: Cao Xueqin -- Honglou meng -- peak-experience -- Abraham Maslow -- Buddhism -- koan; Religion and literature -- Periodicals; Religion and literature; Periodicals; 809.9338205
• DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frx016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-1205

Abstract

Abstract: Many of Cao Xueqin's narrative innovations are exceptional for allowing him to engage his readers in a complex hermeneutical game—one in which the entire narrative is transformed into a multifaceted riddle (a type of Buddhist koan, 公案) that requires proper decipherment—and which ultimately seeks to transfer, by way of a mind-to-mind transmission, a highly particular state of perception by repeatedly calling attention to the fictionality of the text. In deploying innovative forms of reflexive inversion (such as doubling, dreaming, and punning), Cao Xueqin encourages his audience to become aware of the presence of the author, the artifice of the novel, and the paradox of fiction as a vehicle for religious truth.