There's No Place Like Home

Xie Lingyun's Representation of His Estate in “Rhapsody on Dwelling in the Mountains”

Bibliographic Data

ID16785695
AuthorsWendy Swartz (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume2015
Issue21
Pages21-37
Publication date2015-12-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEarly Medieval China (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1529-9104 • E-ISSN: 1946-7842
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1179/1529910415z.00000000019
OpenAlexW2269196806
LanguageEN
Citations received4

In his monumental work, “Rhapsody on Dwelling in the Mountains” (“Shanju fu”), Xie Lingyun describes in detail the construction of his home in a setting that would constitute his style of reclusion and poetry, “mountains and rivers” (shanshui). This articles examines how Xie Lingyun built his home through architecture and discourse, and how shaping a home may bear upon the characterization of a particular brand of reclusion in early medieval China. Contrary to the prevailing early medieval view that regards reclusion as being in its loftier form when state of mind is prioritized over physical position, this rhapsody shows that for this scholar in retreat place actually matters. His rhapsody catalogues all varieties of animals and plants, related sceneries and industries, on his mountain estate. This encyclopedic enumeration of things and activities on his estate advances the claim of material self-sufficiency or completeness that he enjoys in his withdrawal, but creates a paradox with the spiritual emptiness that he sought through quietist values and Buddhist faith

Aesthetics · Alienation · Archaeology · Art · Buddhism · China · Emptiness · Epistemology · Estate · Faith · Literature · Poetry · Political science · Representation (politics · Style (visual arts · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy · Architecture

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