Wendy Swartz

A nuanced understanding of philosophy and literature’s dynamic mutual construction during the Six Dynasties (222-589 C.E.) is a prerequisite for the study of either field, and of medieval literati culture in general, yet the two are usually treated in isolation. This intimate relation manifests itself in the literary practices of allusion and quotation, which constituted the foundational components of both literary authority and hermeneutics. The “Three Mysterious” texts—Yijing, Daodejing, and Zhuangzi—are cited extensively and to varying extents by the greatest poets of the period. This project examines these cases of deliberate and legitimating intertextuality in order to track the intersections between intellectual trends and poetic practices during this especially innovative period.