| Gong Qi(1912-2005)was a well-known calligrapher,painter,connoisseur of cultural relics,poet and scholar in modern China.His achievements and influence have placed him among the greatest in calligraphy.Many of his original calligraphic theories have been regarded as unalterable statements.He also made noticeable accomplishments in classical poetry creation,especially in creating classical poems that critique calligraphic works.He is good at applying colorful writing skills and effective rhetorical devices to discussing abstruse calligraphic theories,which thus made the abstract theories and history learning of calligraphy more understandable and alive for learners.This paper studies 100 “Jueju”(a type of classical poems with four lines)from Mr.Gi’s “Jueju that Critique Calligraphy”.The five parts of this study are as follows:Part 1 introduces Mr.Qi’s life stories,the publication of “Jueju that Critique Calligraphy”,the background of this study,the contents and statements in “Jueju that Critique Calligraphy”,and the significance of this study.Part 2 provides detailed annotation for “Jueju that Critique Calligraphy” with 100 works in total.The first 20 works in the book were accomplished around 1935.The rest of the works were created between 1961 and 1974.Through translating and commenting on the 100 works,this article helps summarize the logic of the book,clarify the major statements,and present advice on emendation of the book.Part 3 examines the rhetoric devices in “Jueju that Critique Calligraphy” from five perspectives: the rhetoric devices that stimulate imagination,such as metaphor,analogy,metonymy,reference,synaesthesia,etc;the ones that demonstrate the grammatical changes and implications like irony,exaggeration,periphrasis,inversion,pun,etc;the ones that stress,including rhetorical question,contrasting,and reiterative location;the ones that shows connections like comparison and intertextuality;and the summary of the rhetoric features in the book.Part 4 studies the thoughts and theories in “Jueju that Critique Calligraphy” from three aspects: the attitudes towards calligraphy and poems,such as the attitudes that believe that calligraphy and poem should be equally important and enhancing each other’s beauty and that it is wrong to privilege calligraphy over poem;the thoughts concerning the ethnics of calligraphy and calligraphers,including the theories on the connection between the moral level of a calligrapher and his/her calligraphic works;and the theories on the rubbings from stone inscriptions like the methods of appreciating the rubbings from stone inscriptions,changes on the appreciation methods of the rubbings from stone inscriptions,and causes and critiques on valuing or devaluing certain rubbings from stone inscriptions.Part5 presents advice on emendation of the book. |
