港大中文學院

2022/23 School of Chinese Seminar

Bodily Synaesthesia: Wasp’s Waist and Poetic, Calligraphic, and Painting “Diseases”

古典詩歌、繪畫、書法理論中所見的“蜂腰”

Dr. Chao LING凌超博士

City University of Hong Kong香港城市大學

Date: April 24, 2023 (Monday)

Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Venue: Room730, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus

Language: English

Abstract:

Body metaphors are ubiquitous in traditional Chinese theoretical treatises on poetry, calligraphy, and painting. Wasp’s waist (fengyao蜂腰), excessively thin waist, is a common metaphor referring to one of the eight poetic, calligraphic, and painting diseases (babing八病). This talk reads Shen Yue’s (441–513) theory of the wasp’s waist in poetic tonal patterns and other traditional literary and artistic theories to understand bodily experience as a hermeneutic device for theorizing and evaluating art. In light of the case study of the wasp’s waist, this talk points to the interplay between figura and physiognomy, and wen (verbal and visual representation) and the world.

本講座關注中國古典詩歌、繪畫和書法中大量關於蜂腰的討論和實踐。結合沈約以及中古的詩歌理論和創作，融合傳統書法理論和繪畫理論，解析作為詩、書、畫八病之一的蜂腰的深層內涵。並在此基礎上，理解作為隱喻的蜂腰，如何溝通不同的媒介，進而思考身體隱喻的認知功能。

Biography:

Chao LING (BA, Peking University; MA, Columbia University; Ph.D., Yale University) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese and History at City University of Hong Kong. He taught at Bates College and Colgate University before joining CityU. His research interests include medieval Chinese poetry and material culture, art history of landscape paintings, and inter-disciplinary study of text and image.

凌超（北京大學中文系學士，哥倫比亞大學東亞系碩士，耶魯大學東亞系博士）現任香港城市大學中文及歷史學系助理教授。此前他執教於美國緬因貝茨學院和紐約柯蓋德大學。他的研究主要關注南北朝的詩歌和物質文化，山水畫藝術史以及圖像與文本的跨學科研究。

All are welcome