Yan, Kui
(um 2001) : English literature, Southwest University, Chongqing
Subjects
Index of Names : China
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Literature : Occident : Great Britain
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Literature : Occident : United States of America
Chronology Entries (7)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
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| 1 | 1930-2000 |
John Donne and China : general Yan Kui : Donne was briefly introduced in the 1930s, his entrance into China's academic world had to wait until the 1980s. Most of the publications in the 1980s were introductory in nature, they were all instructive and authentic. When the Chinese scholars began their study of Donne, they found themselves stuck in two traditions : modern Western theories and traditional Chinese training. One of the results of Donne studies in the 1990s was an increase of the perspectives from which to investiage Donne's works. The most original was comparatist studies, which were to develop right into the new century. Insofar as Donne was concerned, the basic trends of such studies were to compare him with either a Chinese poet or an English poet. The most significant studies were by Zhang Xuechun from 1995 to 1998. Besides comparative study, other integral contributions to Donne studies in China include thematic, textual, and theoretical inquiries. Most Chinese scholars choose to be part of the mainstream, though they differ in the ways they conduct their research. Some of them focus on individual ideas, some on a given genre, and some on a chosen poem. Donne studies quickly developed to be one of China's top academic priorities in the field of English literature. A most significant aspect os this interest is evinced in the change of textbooks. An other development that confirms the growth of Donne studies in China is serial studies. After 2000, critical evaluations of Donne expanded to include not only studies of more of his poems but also relevant criticisms of his poems. Compared with earlier studies, these evaluations were more scholarly and more responsive to the schools and approaches of Donne studies in the West. There is a lack of translation of Donne's complete works into Chinese, the absence of conversation among Donne scholars and the difficulties of getting acess to recent publications from outside China. |
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| 2 | 2000 |
Yan, Kui. Duoen [John Donne] jie'ai zhong di yuan xing yi xiang [ID D30997]. Discusses Donne's use of round images in ValMourn in terms of Copernican cosmology and Donne's idea of a circular life. Argues that the poem is a philosophical inquiry into man's general identity against the background of cosmic reconstruction. Maintains that this study helps to explain the beauty of the images in the poem as well as Donne's unique position in English literature. |
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| 3 | 2001 |
Yan, Kui. Shi ren Duo'en yan jiu = A systematic venture into John Donne [ID D30990]. In the introduction Yan Kui points out that, for the most part, Donne still awaits discovery in China and hopes that the present study will help readers understand Donne in particular, metaphysical poetry in general, and English literature as a whole. In Part I, Love Poetry discusses the major stylistic and the¬matic characteristics of Donne's love poems. Argues that by exploring such themes as woman's unfaithfulness, man's fickleness, and love as the unification of body and soul, Donne conducts a dialectical search for truth. Shows how Donne uses an orderly past and chaotic present interactively to reveal the nature of man in a world of political, religious, and social conflict. Maintains that Donne's image of death in his poems shows how he has a sense of belonging to both of the two conflicting worlds. Holds that the pleasure of reading Donne's poetry comes from the vitality of his mind and from his elaborate uses of dramatic elements, paradox, and conceit. In Part II, Divine Poetry focuses on Donne's desire to be united with God and on the archetypal journey in his religious poems. Sees Donne's divine poems as a record of his personal struggle to appropriate divine revelation to himself, to intensify his sense of moral obligation, and as an appeal to Christ as both lover and savior. Maintains that the religious poetry is motivated by a passion as strong as anything in his love poems and reveals his vigorous search for truth. In Part III, The Sermons explores Donne's role as a poet-priest and his search for divine truth as seen in his sermons. Points out striking similarities and differences between his sermons and his poetry, claiming that his sermons are, in fact, poetry without rhyme. In the conclusion, maintains that Donne's works show a sevenfold interaction between content and form, convention and originality, life and art, literature and ideology, poetry and prose, mirror and lamp. Contains a bibliography, an index of works by Donne, and an index of names. |
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| 4 | 2001 |
Yan, Kui. Hu dong : Duoen [John Donne] de yi shu mei li [ID D30992] Discusses the complex interaction between divinity and secularity, tradition and creativity, and life and art in Donne's poetry. Comments on Lect, Ecst, ElBed, Twick, and ConfL to show how religious elements appear in Donne's love poems and discusses HSShow and Father to illustrate how secular passion is skillfully incorporated in religious poems. Holds that the interaction between tradition and creativity and between religion and secularity challenges the old notion of a Jack and John Donne. In the interaction of the sacred and the profane, sees a combination of three elements: use of conceit, cosmic awareness of humanity, and the tradition of dream literature. Illustrates this idea by citing SunRis, Canon, Air, Ecst, Anniv, Metem, LovExch, Noct, LovAlch, and ValWeep. Considering the interaction of life and art, cites examples from El- War, Fever, Relic, FunEl, and Leg. Calls interaction the “unique spell” of Donne's works. |
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| 5 | 2001 |
Yan, Kui. Lun Duoen de yu zhou ren sheng yi she [ID D30993]. Discusses John Donne's attempts to reconcile the old and new philosophy and maintains that such an attempt shows itself in three basic paradoxes and the poet's awareness of a cosmological individualism. Concludes that Donne is a distant father of modern poetry. |
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| 6 | 2003 |
Yan, Kui. Ai de jian zheng [John Donne]. [ID D30995]. Argues that ValMourn "abounds in round images, physical, spiritual, and structural, of which the first two are encircled within the third". Maintains that these round images are "symbolic of a perfect love and a harmonious universe" and that the poem "works as a promise to true love, a hope for universal exploration, and a speculation on the relationship between man and nature, body and soul, contradiction and harmony, all identical with the round images that are the fruit of a strong sensibility and the emblem of eternal love". |
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| 7 | 2005 |
Yan, Kui. Sheng ming de li zan [John Donne]. [ID D30996]. Reads Metem, FirAn, and SecAn as an epic trilogy on how the Soul of the World has experienced a circular life experience by its adventurous journey from Eden to Earth and finally to Heaven. In the preface, surveys past Donnean criticism, rejects the old Jack-John Donne dichotomy, and sees the trilogy, written in Donne's middle years, as a bridge between his secular love poetry and his divine poems. In Chapter 1, "A Song of the Soul: A Chronological Study", discusses how Donne creates his view of the Soul of the world, a view that reflects the fall-rise pattern prevalent in Renaissance thought. Argues that this view allows him to see the journey of the Soul of the World as reflecting his own spiritual progress. Points out that all three poems contain an invocation, a body, and a conclusion and that the body of each contains eight sections, which suggests that the three poems share a similar design, which is further reenforced by numerous repetitions of similar words and ideas. Maintains that Donne's presentation in the trilogy of life by death, of beauty by ugliness, and of truth by deception reflects his theological perspective. In Chapter 2 "Humanistic concerns : A synchronic study", focuses on four essential themes found throughout the trilogy: self, life, love, and change. Maintains that the theme of self is seen best in the invocations of the three poems, where the anima mundi and "I" are intermixed, dialectically creating out of the "deathlesse soule" an eternal self symbolic of the macrocosm and microcosm. Sees the trilogy as a song both of the individual soul and of the soul of human beings in general. Says that the theme of life pivots in Metem on the metempsychosis of the anima mundi, in FirAn on the frailty and decay of the world, and in SecAn on the exaltation of the soul into the world from which it came. Notes that the theme of love pervades all three poems but that its focus shifts from secular love to divine love, a shift that enriches the concept of love. Claims that in the trilogy change is combined with constancy, working both as a theme and as background: as theme it acts as a foil to support the notion of the soul's eternal life in Metem and to support the concept of the beauty and divinity of the heavenly world in the two Anniversaries; as background, it brings together the other themes and builds up part of Donne's cosmological philosophy. In Chapter 3, "Cosmological life : a background study", explores Donne's cosmological philosophy in terms of his poetic reconstruction of the cosmos, one that ponders on Pythagorean harmony and order and that was called forth by the Copernican revolution and one that centers on the redemption of the soul. Concludes that this reconstruction shapes Donne's philosophy of life that is embodied in the four essential themes, giving rise to his uses of paradox and wit and defining the trilogy as a psalm of life. Contains a conclusion, an index of names, a list of works cited, a chronology of Donne's life and a postscript. |
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Bibliography (7)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
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| 1 | 2000 |
Yan, Kui. Duoen jie'ai zhong di yuan xing yi xiang. In : Journal of Yunnan Normal University = Yunnan shi fan da xue xue bao (2000). [Donne's "A valediction : forbidding mourning"]. 多恩节哀中的圆形意象 |
Publication / DonJ12 |
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| 2 | 2001 |
Yan, Kui. Shi ren Duo'en yan jiu = A systematic venture into John Donne. (Chengdu : Sichuan da xue chu ban she, 2001). 诗人多恩研究 |
Publication / DonJ5 |
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| 3 | 2001 |
Yan, Kui. Hu dong : Duoen de yi shu mei li. In : Journal of Peking University = Beijing da xue xue bao (2001). [Interaction: the spell of John Donne.] 互动 : 多恩的艺术魅力 |
Publication / DonJ7 |
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| 4 | 2001 |
Yan, Kui. Lun Duoen de yu zhou ren sheng yi she. In : Journal of Yunnan Normal University = Yunnan shi fan da xue xue bao ; vol. 33, no. 3 (2001). [On Donne's cosmological awareness]. 论多恩的宇宙人生意识 |
Publication / DonJ8 |
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| 5 | 2003 |
Yan, Kui. Ai de jian zheng. In : Journal of Zhaotong Teachers' College = Zhaotong shi zhuan xue bao ; no. 1 (2003). [The emblem of love : on the round images in "Forbidding mourning" by John Donne]. 爱的见证 |
Publication / DonJ10 |
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| 6 | 2005 |
Yan, Kui. Sheng ming de li zan. (Beijing : Beijing da xue chu ban she, 2005). [A song of life : on John Donne’s trilogy of the soul. 生命的礼赞 |
Publication / DonJ11 | |
| 7 | 2007 | Yan, Kui. A glory to come : John Donne studies in China. In : John Donne journal ; vol. 26, (2007). | Publication / DonJ13 |
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