Contenu du sommaire : Du divertissement dans la Chine et le Japon anciens. « Homo Ludens Extreme-Orientalis »

The Chinese tradition solved the problem of literary representation of desire (conceptualized as a process moving from absence to excess) by a double movement of stimulation followed by restraint. The earliest texts examined here treat royal entertainments in which a trajectory to excess is blocked either by abruptly stopping the entertainment or by a reflux of moral resolution. The latest texts, from the mid-ninth century, transform that double movement of excitement and blockage into a tense absorbtion, in which the poetic speaker has his attention fixed on an image of desire, but can neither advance to reach it nor withdraw.

Entertainment in Chinese Buddhism, between asceticism and « expedient means » There seems to be a contradiction in Chinese Buddhist texts concerning entertainment. Some stress the prohibition for any Buddhist to indulge in entertainment. Others seemingly extol any kind of leisure. In fact, the moral value placed in entertainment is intimately linked to the usefulness which a sentient being attaches to it. This value is best appreciated according to rules belonging to either « common morality » or the « morality of commitment ». Furthermore, for the Bodhisattva, entertainment becomes an « expedient means » to attract beings towards the Good and Enlightenment. The instance of the « game of the hidden hook » allows for a better understanding of the spirit and function of entertainment in general. However, a higher form of entertainment is discussed, through which mastery of the self and the faculty of acting freely are reached.

From children's games to celestial concerts : representations of entertainement in early Japan Although the notion of Asobi in ancient Japan corresponds broadly to the concept of « game » in the West, musical entertainment, including songs and dances, constituted an important part of it. These musical entertainments and, consequently, games in general were highly valued during the 12th and the 13th centuries from the Buddhist perspective. Female entertainers played a crucial part in this process. The main sources used in this article are a compilation of courtesans' songs, the Ryôjin hishô (12th c), as well as several collections of edifying anecdotes (13th c.)

Poetical tournaments in medieval China Poetical games, defined as collective composition, are among the perennial institutions of Chinese culture. The present article aims first to recapture the prevailing fashion for this kind of entertainment in the 5th and 6th centuries. The author then examines exchanges of poetic citations in ancient China as its antecedents, and tests in the composition of verse within the official examinations system as a direct outcome. An underlying assumption throughout this development was that a capacity for poetical improvisation was the trait of a worthy minister and courtier.

A particular instance of playful prints : the images in writing of the Edo period The moji.e of the Edo period (1603-1867) are an ingenious type of playful image, in which written characters are combined to create the shapes of figures or objects. This paper concentrates on a few examples representing different genres (a good-luck print by Fujiyoshi, a poetic print, a drawing manual by Hokusai, a collection of amusing figures by Hanasanjin), illustrating the techniques employed to create a playful distance between the immediate appearance of the image and its underlying structures.

Can mathematics be pure entertainment ? An analysis of mathematical tablets of the Edo period It is often said that mathematics in Japan developped during the Edo period as a « magnificent art and recreation. » The great number of mathematical tablets (sangaku) displayed in temples and shrines are held to constitute proof of this. The present paper focuses on the function of these tablets as advertisements and in the communication between specialists. It shows that some of their features, such as the emphasis on aesthetics, can be explained by sociological and economic factors, such as the rivalry between schools of mathematics (most of which were located in the capital) and the professionalization of the art of teaching.

Human games, divine games : Indian views Sanskrit literature, like the literatures of the Far East, advocates a measured hedonism. It describes elegant and cultured men of the well-to-do classes who practise all sorts of games, physical and intellectual, as well as enlightened amateurs, kings and notables, who patronize poets selected through literary competitions. However, belles-lettres do not open an administrative career as they do in China. Poetical games are numerous. They bear on linguistic sense and form. The notion of implicit meaning (dhvani) is essential to them. India, like the Far East, associated entertainment with secular and religious teaching. But it also gave a metaphysical and transcendental interpretation of the notion of games. Going beyond a purely negative understanding of mâyâ (« illusion »), the Hindu religious texts describe a mâyâ-creating god and the world as his game. The Indian interest in drama partly reflects this conception.

Mathematics, poetry, banquet games : some Greek entertainments The Greeks have no single word for play and entertainment. They use terms connected with childhood (paizô) or with competition (agôn). Poetic performances correspond to these two different levels : competitions in festivals and games during the symposion, of which various aspects are analyzed here.