Wolfson conference: The poetics of Tao

A conference supported by the Society for French Studies, the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Literature and Linguistics, Wolfson Humanities Society, Wolfson Research Networks and Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Taoist thought can be approached in many ways—as an ontology, an ethics, a aesthetics, a mode of perception, an existential orientation, and much more.

This one-day conference explores how Taoist thought may meaningfully contribute to key questions in modern French philosophy, literary studies, ecological thought, and related fields. Alongside this theoretical consideration, speakers will examine the question of poetics: how can Taoist thought, now read in Western theoretical contexts, be presented and embodied in art? 

Outline programme

Registration opens at 09:00. The opening keynote will be delivered by Xiaofan Amy Li, Associate Professor in Comparative Cultural Studies at University College London.

Panels before and after the lunch break will discuss Poetry and painting, and Subjectivity. Panelists include Xie Bo (Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China), Ruoshui Zhang (University of Cambridge), Heejung Seo-Reich (Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea) and Claude Romano(Paris-Sorbonne University),

Cecile Simondonian (Director of the Collège International de Philosophie, Paris) will deliver the closing keynote. A roundtable will offer plenary discussion and some closing remarks. 

From the keynote abstracts:

Xiaofan Amy Li: “I'll speak in reckless words, so please listen recklessly": Thinking Negative Poetics via Zhuangzi and Bataille”

I explore two notions of negative poetics offered respectively by the Zhuangzi and Georges Bataille, which converge on the question of uselessness/utility and its crucial importance for poetry. The quote in the title comes from a dialogue in the Zhuangzi about an eccentric language (diaogui) that can only be comprehended in a dream-like state akin to intoxication. I take this as my starting point for thinking about poetics.

Cecile Simondonian: Margins of play: between the Heraclitean logos of flux and the poetics of Dao

Between grace and gravity, mystery and mechanics, there are tensions but also a margin of play. We will discuss this margin of play in relation to the story, in in chapter 19 (Da sheng 達⽣) of the Zhuangzi 莊⼦, about the swimmer of Lüliang. The swimmer astounds Confucius by diving from the heights of a perilous waterfall without injury. His method is to have no method.

About this event

This event is being coordinated by Ruoshui Zhang (rz315), a PhD candidate in French Studies.

The conference is open to all and will be of particular interest to students and researchers working in literature (English, French, Chinese), Continental philosophy, Classical Chinese philosophy, and ecological thought.