On The Methodology Of Stephen Owen's History Of Tang Poetry

More and more Chinese scholars show interests in sinology. In order to make progress in our studies, it is necessary that we'd better not only pay attention to studies on ancient Chinese literature at home, but also take sinology abroad into consideration. Furthermore, it is necessary to pay more attention to sinologists' studies on Tang poetry than we used to.Stephen Owen (1946-), James Bryant Conant University Professor and Professor of Comparative Literature, is a famous American sinologist. Professor Owen's primary areas of research interest are lyric poetry, comparative poetics, studies on writer, and premodern Chinese literature. It should be pointed out that the present research focuses on the methodology of Professor Owen's history of Tang poetry, including The poetry of early Tang, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry:the High Tang, and The late Tang:Chinese poetry of the mid-ninth century.It is found out that Professor Owen's works embody his research method, which is one of the most important reasons that make his study unique and different from other scholars'. The significance of Professor Owen's history of Tang poetry to cross-cultural communication lies in the fact that his studies help English-speaking people understand not only Chinese literature, but also Chinese culture. Consequently, there exists the possibility that successful cross-cultural communication could become true.As far as research methods are concerned, it is hoped that three kinds of methods are made use of. Firstly, based on Professor Owen's work on the present research history of Tang poetry, the author makes use of descriptive method. Secondly, the author applies certain linguistic theories to Professor Owen's work on history of Tang poetry. Thirdly, pertinent to certain poets, the author makes a comparative study between Professor Owen's study and some domestic scholars', paying special attention to their methodology respectively.From the perspective of modern linguistic theories, the present research focuses on the methodology of Professor Owen's history of Tang poetry. The author applies five linguistic terms to the present study, including metaphor, prototype, intertextuality, context, and social factors. The purpose of the present research lies in the possibility that the conclusions of this research could facilitate the study on ancient Chinese literature.This paper aims at analyzing Professor Owen's history of Tang poetry, including The poetry of early T'ang, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry:the High T'ang, and The late Tang:Chinese poetry of the mid-ninth century, based on metaphor, prototype, intertextuality, context, and social factors, five significant terms in the field of linguistics. The significance of the present paper lies in verifying the explanation power of linguistics, pertinent to ancient Chinese poetry. The present research is in an attempt to disclose the method that provides Professor Owen with new perspectives of history Tang poetry studies, in hope that this paper is to provide Tang poetry researchers with some valuable reference.