FromChineseCosmologytoEnglishRomanticismexplorestheintricateearly-modernEnglishandEuropeanreceptionoftheChinesemonisticideatianrenheyiorhumanity’sunitywithheavenviatheChineseritescontroversy,thephilosophicalinnovationofSpinoza,thetransformationofEnglishgardenlayout,andthepoeticrevolutionofColeridgeandWordsworth.
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“YuLiuoffersagroundbreakinganalysisofcross-culturalexchangebyexploringtheinfluenceofChinesephilosophicaltraditionsonEnglishart,gardening,andliteratureuptotheRomanticperiod...Amust-readforscholarsinterestedinAnglo-Chineserelationsbetween1600and1830.”
—RobertMarkley,W.D.andSaraE.TrowbridgeProfessorofEnglish,UniversityofIllinoisUrbana-Champaign
“Inthisdeeplylearnedstudy,YuLiutracesa‘relayofideas’thatmadetheirwayfromChinesephilosophytoWesternRomanticism,transformedalongthewayinSpinoza’sthoughtandintheoriesofEnglishlandscapegardening.Atourdeforceofintellectualhistory,hisbookshapesapersuasivestoryoutofdisparatestrandswhosesignificancedeepenswhenseeninaunifyingperspective.”
—LeoDamrosch,ErnestBernbaumResearchProfessorofLiterature,Emeritus,HarvardUniversity
“AthoughtfulandimaginativeattempttotracethemigrationoftheancientChinesecosmologicalunityofheavenandhumanitytoseventeenth-andeighteenth-centuryEuropeviatheChinaJesuits,Spinoza,Coleridge,andWordsworth,leadingtotheredesignofEnglishgardensandRomanticpoetry.”
—D.E.Mungello,professorofhistoryemeritus,BaylorUniversity
“Inhispowerfullyoriginalmonograph,YuLiuupendstheall-too-familiarasymmetryoftheorizingChineseculturethroughaWesternconceptualstructure.Hemountsacarefullydocumentedandcompellingargumentthatthe‘idea’ofthepersistentChineseorganismicworldviewcapturedinthelanguageof‘humanity’sunitywithnature’setitsrootsintheantinomianEuropeanEnlightenmentthinkersasearlyasthecomplexRitesControversy,andthenspreadsoutasarootsystemthroughthehereticalphilosopherSpinozatoshapeBritishRomanticisminallofitsparts.”
—RogerT.Ames,PekingUniversity
IDEA HARVARDUNIVERSITY AMES JOURNEY gardening ENGLISH CHINESE
