“Limit” Redefined: When Claudel Met China

Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2017, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (2): 62-71.

• Comparative Literature Studies • Previous Articles Next Articles

“Limit” Redefined: When Claudel Met China

Zhou Hao

Online:2017-04-25 Published:2022-06-15
About author:Zhou Hao, Ph.D, is lecturer in School of Foreign Languages, South China University of Technology(Guangzhou 510641, China). She is engaged in the teaching and research of French language and literature. Email: belautomne@163.com

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines the concept of “limit” in the French poet Paul Claudel's Poetic Art (1905) and Listening Eye (1946), for the purpose of observing the construction and development of his poetic thought and his attitudes towards Chinese culture in his different periods of life. In Poetic Art, Claudel builds his theory upon a “clear, solid and French style” limit, with reference to the Chinese theories of “emptiness” and the juxtaposition of Yin-Yang. In Listening Eye, the concept of limit becomes more flexible and is changed to “an ability to connect and mix”, which is more imbued with Chinese color and closely related to the dispositions of mind and soul. From Poetic Art to Listening Eye, it's a continuous dialogue and “co-naissance” with the culture of the Other, which contributes to the dialogue between Chinese and Western thoughts on the “limit”.

Key words: Paul Claudel, limit, difference, Yin Yang, frame

Zhou Hao. “Limit” Redefined: When Claudel Met China[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2017, 39(2): 62-71.

References

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“Limit” Redefined: When Claudel Met China

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