Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.4, 2022

The Debate between Yixiang and Image: Using The Book of Literary Design and the Yixiang Theory as an Example

(Abstract)

Huang Li

In The Book of Literary Design (Wenxin Diaolong), Liu Xie introduced the aesthetic category of yixiang (image) and gave it a rich connotation. Yixiang is a manifestation of the humanistic creation process of the sages who pondered the Tao, created literature, and educated the people, as well as a medium and product of the interplay of subject and object. The English term for yixiang, image, is a central idea of European and American Imagist poetry. The central figure of the Imagists, Pound, through his translation and imitation of traditional Chinese poetry, gave image a profound core, interpreting it as a combination of emotion and reason of the creative subject and a medium to enlighten readers and purify society, which has rich similarity and interchangeability with the connotation of traditional Chinese yixiang.