Participants > Spaar Immanuel

Immanuel Spaar (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)

In the mid Ming dynasty, the quickly growing body of printed texts changed the conditions for text production and thus also influenced knowledge transmission. This is particularly relevant in the field of philosophy, where influential Neo-Confucian thinkers have emphasized the importance of oral instruction for the transmission of their thinking. Indeed, the biography of the mid-Ming thinker Luo Rufang 羅汝芳 (1515–1588), a later-generation follower of Wang Yangming 王陽明 (1472–1529), conveys the image of a prolific itinerant speaker with an entourage of disciples. While only few texts authentically written by Luo Rufang himself have been preserved, there is a large corpus of so-called “discourse records” (yulu 語錄) attributed to him. These records read like actual transcripts of Luo's oral lectures and face-to-face teaching sessions, or at least the text attempts to simulate such a discursive setting. Due to the continuous production of editions of yulu, the considerable quantity of extant records bearing Luo Rufang's name allows for the study of certain features of this genre of text.

In my paper, I aim to look at two dimensions of textual transmission in these discourse records. One is language use. I shall consider the rhetoric of Luo Rufang's yulu with its stylized language, as serving the single didactic goal of promoting the understanding of Luo's thinking. Consequently, the production of yulu also reifies the Neo-Confucian didactics implemented by Luo Rufang in his lectures. Word of mouth is transformed into written text, which then continues to circulate by its own rules. The diction of Luo's yulu strongly suggests the existence of a Confucian didactics used in an oral context. The use of special terms and vocabulary often is imbued with quotations from literary Chinese, but some passages convey a brimming sense of orality. I will point out these characteristics, and in turn provide an answer to the question how this diction suited Luo Rufang's goal.

Another dimension of textual transmission involves the ever new editions of Luo Rufang's yulu. After the publication of two influential yulu under the tutelage of Luo Rufang himself, later yulu appropriated the individual text entries from the two previous editions. I will analyze how, in some cases, previous passages were recycled for new context. In some instances, the editing is limited to single sentences, and the editorial changes are small; even the overall structure of the text remains the same. In other instances, ambitious editors subjected the inherited text to a new structure; previous complete text passages become fragmented. These were the basic modes of textual appropriation from previous editions.

Printed texts of the yulu genre circulated despite a strong ideological preference for word of mouth. Even a veteran lecturer like Luo Rufang embraced this genre of published text. In my paper I will argue that yulu represented one mode of textual transmission that was perfectly conducive to the educational goals of the Neo-Confucians.

Immanuel Spaar is a PhD candidate at the Chinese Studies department of the University of Wuerzburg, where he also gives class as a Research Associate. His principal supervisor is Prof. Roland Altenburger.

He holds a Bachelor and Master degree from the University of Wuerzburg. During his graduate studies, he stayed at Peking University and National Chengchi University. Before enrolling as PhD candidate in 2017, he was fully employed at a Taiwanese manufacturer.

His research interests are Chinese philosophy and intellectual history of late imperial China.