The CCCC's last text reading for spring 2020 is with Cynthia Brokaw, History, Brown University. Her text-reading is titled, 'Advertising Commercial publications in Early Modern China: Paratexts and Targeted Readerships.'

Abstract: What do the paratexts of a woodblock-printed text reveal about the intended audience for a text?  How do authors, editors, and publishers shape the presentation of texts to appeal to different (or perhaps very broad inclusive) readerships?  By reading prefaces (both authorial and allographic), "notes to readers" (fanli 凡例), postscripts, illustrations, commentary, etc., and by examining different book formats, we can learn much about the assumptions authors, editors, and publishers brought to the production of texts—and, perhaps, by extrapolation, what they knew about the reading practices of their readers.  Reading selected (short) prefaces to late-Ming “everyday life” encyclopedias (riyong leishu 日用類書), Qing-dynasty village ritual handbooks, and merchant primers (and perhaps also looking at format, commentary, illustration, etc.), we will focus on the paratexts of popular commercial works of the early modern period, when the demand for such texts was on the rise. 

CCCC is a reading group for students and scholars with interest in premodern Sinographic text.

All are welcome, at any level of experience with classical Chinese.

At each session, one participant presents a text in classical Chinese. Attendees discuss historical, literary, linguistic, and other aspects of the text, and work together to resolve difficulties in comprehension and translation.

Presentations include works of all sorts, from the earliest times to the twentieth century.

No preparation required: all texts will be distributed at the meeting.

contact: eap-guwen@cornell.edu