How Obsession Is Presented in the Text - Essay Example

How obsession is presented in the text Introduction Obsessions are erotic and unconventional addictions on activities or objects often, but not always with the ostensive effect of displacing human relations. Connoisseurship is the art of passing critical judgments in the art by a competent person, more so, one of the fine arts, or in matters of taste. Connoisseurship may need attention to detail. It is about performing the routine of judgments that are valorized which inspire and strengthen the social and class distinctions. Connoisseurship as background information Connoisseurship has for a long time been a crucial means of bringing order to the malady of the ascription of the works of art which over the courses of numerous centuries have spread throughout the world. The principle of traditional connoisseurship is the ability to recognize a work of art. The inner conviction can only be achieved from the impression of the whole and never from an evaluation of noticeable forms. As has been demonstrated by Clunas (2013), the late imperial China was a great age of connoisseurship. In the period of cumulative social mobility and status anxieties that were heightened, down and out littérateurs could still claim their elevated status by proving their good taste. Their esthetic judgment became the only foundation that was solidly left for their exalted self-image. Connoisseurship has manifested the creation of a countercurrent of cultural defensiveness. The development of manuals for consumers has been written which on one hand enforced the literatis position as the final arbiters of what was good. At the same time, giving access to this knowledge to a much broader market of possible purchasers of all types of superfluous things. According to the author, the mania for gardens of literati excluding the vast Chinese majority from possessing one, is an attempt to shore up the weakening structure of elite display of status (Clunas, 2013). The author challenges Chinese intellectuals to consider the consumption nature and exchange of commodity as a key to the understanding of the beginnings of the modern era in China. Many Chinese historians committed to the Marxist concept that the production of the commodity is an essential condition for the development of capitalism have devoted their research to production study. What are distinctive about the history of the late Mingare not changes in production, but changes in the consumption of luxury, Clunas (2013) asserts. European historians have also been challenged to rethink some of their assumptions about modern Europe emergence. Capitalism birth in Europe has been linked to a number of developments such as the rise of a society that is materialistic, the creation of novel types of luxury goods. Others include the concept of culture itself as a commodity, a greater attention to the luxury consumption specifics and a decline in state sumptuary regulation. The collection of the past became so popular during the late Ming particularly when the focus of the present was so severe. The author jolts us into considering the meaning or the definition of a book. Additionally, the history of material in early modern China is examined. Superfluous things are analyzed. The paintings, ceramics, bronzes, calligraphy and other objects possessed by the Ming China elites are discussed, and the modern attitudes towards them are described. Commercialization and the traditional social barriers, the breakdown, the significance of these objects in the market and the ways in which they function as symbols of social status is emphasized. This is the social context of economic growth. Additionally, these attitudes to the resurgence of Italy and other contemporary Europe are compared (Clunas, 2013). The Hsiao-pin structured informally, and most of the times casual and impulsive in tone and mood were established as a genre of literary in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. It became an overriding form of literary of the late Ming era and it thrived for almost a century till the periods after Mings demise (Ye, 2014). The author takes into a rare glimpse of the traditional Chinese intellectual, in particular, the colorful and occasionally unconventional traits of the late Ming. During the period of the late Ming, there was a rise of egoism and a panorama of the era’s colorful age (Ye, 2014). However, there was a decline in the literary genre and an occasional censorship under neo-Confucianism and its rehabilitation and reignited the study in the twentieth era. It is because the style was considered to be escapist as a result of its attention on sensual pleasure and the triviality of life (Clunas, 2013). Inheritance as a family tradition, which is a big thing in Chinese history Inheritance was a in the history of Chinese as depicted by Wen Zheng, who was born to a vast inheritance of influence and a chief role in what the contemporary Britain will term as Wen family interest. This is as a result of the network of relatives, associates, and clients who formed the power base of the family in Suzhou, the native city. Wens family’s prominence in the Ming period can be seen stemming from his great-grandfather, Wen Zhengming. He probably became most renowned as a painter and as the living embodiment of the amateur ideal in an artistic production. The family also traces a link to a famous thirteenth-century patriot and prime minister, and afar that to the old relic of the Han dynasty. According to Owen (2014), a glimpse is given of how the earliest texts are echoed within the Chinese tradition. One is drawn to explore beyond the surface in an otherwise linear sequence. A picture of a rich, full-bodied tradition emerges which is re-evaluating itself always and evolving. The interactions and echoes with the preceding modern cultures become more ostensible than before. We are offered a rare insight into the thoughts of the eras individuals by the literary output of the period of Song that is characterized by its stress on private life and the details of every day. However, the stand of the author stating that the universal Western literary tradition influence the Chinese tradition came to a close is weak. The way in which a given tradition reacts to novel forces is the very stuff of which existing literary traditions are created. The value of the obsession over all the other Chinese traditional social value connected with God figure and beyond life The history of the literary tradition of obsession up to the late Ming and early Ping is illustrated. By the seventeenth century, there is a tradition that is rich in lore and a corpus of the manual that are specialized around every almost every standard obsession. It seems like Pu Songling is using these sources in his tales. The late Ming even saw obsession glorification that can be associated with the cult of Qing. In Songlings tales, obsession is like an addiction, single-minded devotion that exhibits a purity or loftiness on the part of the one that is obsessed. However, it is nonetheless, tends to leave little room for communication between the subject and others on any but his standings. According to Mair and Denis (2013), Songling was obsessed with the tale of ghosts, and he usually imagined that these occasions had happened in his backyard. He had to bear his familys hopes and endured lifes pressures so as to succeed. Despite being ranked first in the local examinations three times, he did not pass any future exams that were needed to win a recommendation for future studies at the nations capital till he was seventy years old. Surviving the endless frustrations, desperation, and depression, he kept taking the exams for fifty-two years. One can see the traces of his pathetic state and the feeling of helplessness in his line of works. Obsession is strictly self-limiting, anti-diachronic, and an activity that is highly rerouted, Mair and Denis (2013), state. This is depicted in the make-do-studio that is written by Pu Songling, who was a writer of the Qing dynasty. A large variety of subjects is covered such as foxes, monsters, fish spirits and ghosts that are personified. They have feelings of right and wrong, magnificence and ugliness, happiness and dissatisfaction as well as love and hatred just like human beings. The stories reflected the Chinese social life at the time in which they were written. Since the writer lived under a monarchy that was feudal, he condemned the medieval system unfairness and expressed his resentment by writing of fox spirits and monsters. Most of the morals stress the value of the Chinese devoted virtues, learning, restraint, and frankness. Nonetheless, the character of exceedingly loving books and not appreciating life is chastised. Regardless of the traditional moral stand, there are very strong characters of women, which indicate Songling’s interest in breaking away from the culture of his times that he considered restrictive and outdated. Besides, the spirit world is used to demonstrate morals about the world of humans. Pugnacious individuals and the officials that are corrupt are the primary focus of PuSongling. However, PuSongling also praises the aspects that make up healthy marriages (Mair & Denis, 2013). Additionally, some of Songling’s tales are about obsession and hence about what counts as prized and whether it is worth suffering for (Mair & Denis, 2013). The appendix has the translation of four tales. The central subject of the book is to offer vital insight into Pu Songlings fiction art, as well as the fantasy in the Chinese literature. The greatest success of the book, however, is its sophistication and the constant brilliance of close reading. Conclusion Pu Songling’s tales display social values, articulating imagination of goodness and faithfulness while despising savagery. Additionally, we also learn that this world’s possession when accumulated invites envy and when loved, gives rise to deviltry. The books deviltry was at the girl’s seductive magic. The actions by Pu Songling were so outrageous that it was not certainly wrong to straighten them out. However, it was ruthless for the magistrate to burn his books. References Clunas, C. (2013). Superfluous Things: Material, Culture and Social Status in Modern China. Polity Press Mair, H. V & Denis, C. (2013). Pu Songling: Strange Tales from make-do studio. Foreign Language Press Beijing. Owen, S. (2014). An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911.w.w.Norton Company. Ye, Y. (2014). Vignettes from the late Ming: A Hsiao-p’in Anthology. University of Washington Press. Read More