Crone T (2022)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2022
Book Volume: 108
Pages Range: 289-318
Journal Issue: 3-4
DOI: 10.1163/15685322-10803005
This article explores the much-debated origins of the Confucian classic Lunyu . The author examines two well-known types of repetitions in the text: doublets and formulaic phrases. The results of the analysis confirm previous research suggesting that the Lunyu is the accumulative result of various independent collections of con-cise anecdotes and sayings, but also indicate that these small literary items derived from more comprehensive and complex written and/or memorized compositions. As a result, this article joins recent studies on the textual history of the Lunyu that demand a new hermeneutic approach to the text and a rewriting of the literary history of pre-Qin Masters literature (zhuzi shu ). Confucian didactic dialogues and speeches such as those found in traditionally transmitted Zhou period texts and recently discov-ered bamboo manuscripts are to be seen as Masters literature's primordial ancestors, while the Lunyu ought to be treated as a conglomeration of derived second-generation products.
APA:
Crone, T. (2022). Confucius Repeats Himself: On the Nature and Sources of the Lunyu (Selected Teachings). T'oung Pao, 108(3-4), 289-318. https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685322-10803005
MLA:
Crone, Thomas. "Confucius Repeats Himself: On the Nature and Sources of the Lunyu (Selected Teachings)." T'oung Pao 108.3-4 (2022): 289-318.
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