A pedagogical survey of western and Chinese traditions of reality from Plato to Baudrillard

Yuhan Huang, Purdue University

Abstract

Reality is often understood as opposed to imagination, denoting a sense of materiality and practicality; however, in the literary and artistic history, there are different modes and levels of realities that great minds of the past have held dear to their beliefs. Starting from Plato's Republic, which has set up a hierarchical model of art and reality through the doctrine of imitation, the relationship between reality and arts has become an essential issue in literary studies and this thesis takes the task of surveying the representation of reality across the borders of time, nation and genre, presenting the major works in a grand conversation. The concepts of reality differ so greatly that some of them are entitled as "imagination" by the other. It is also with these different understandings of the realities that artistic creations branch out to so many directions.

Degree

M.A.

Advisors

Ross, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Comparative literature|Asian literature

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