Contenu du sommaire : «De la difficulte de juger». Quelques ressources du mode critique en Chine et au Viêt Nam

To Judge this Man, to Judge that Work The aim of this paper is to remind that poetic criticism in China was born from a tradition of judgment on individuals, in a field mainly occupied by morals and politics, but with the poetical exchanges of the Chunqiu period as a background. Thus existed from the beginnings between individual criticism and poetic criticism intricate connections, with the result of generating particular conditions the effects of which were at the same time fecunding and restricting.

Liu Xie's Disenchantment. Attitudes and Duties of the Literary Critic as stated in the chapter « Connoisseur » of the Wenxin diaolong As a plea for the acknowledgement of belles-lettres and for the authority of the literay critic, the text whose reading we propose here, defines a range of criteria to evaluate works in terms of their formal, as well as their organic and normative aspects. The above mentioned evaluation is, however, merely preliminary to the perception of the internal disposition of the works, this being the ultimate objective in their appreciation, as if by empathy. Hence, given the bitterness created by the scarcity of just and true « connoisseurs », the difficulty of discernment in literary matters, and the inescapable partiality of the critic, Liu Xie sets out to transform the bitterness into enthusiasm, the difficulty into accessibibility, and to redefine the position of the « connoisseur » as that of a reader sympathising with the author, capable of recognising exceptional works, thus contributing towards their beauty and standing surely for their good fortune.

A Byway through Fauna. Some thoughts on the Wildlife in the Zhuangzi The Zhuangzi is the only literary work from early China which ascribes a salient role to the animals, namely a philosophical one. Indeed, the animal serves not to consecrate the political power but to undermine its authority, and to denounce the alienation of men and the hidden violence within its hierarchial structure. The land of the animals thus offers a privileged standpoint from which to observe the history of men, starting with their emergence from the natural realm propelled by the ancient Sages, and culminating in their forced integration in a body political (the phrase « body political »). Far from being mere transparent illustrations of human situations, the significance of the animal scenes in the Zhuangzi can be much more appreciated when contrasted with the moralising stories about animals circulated by literati during the Warring States period, which were purported to illustrate the boundless authority and transforming force of the virtuous ruler. Among the natural, hybrid and fantastic animals with which the Zhuangzi is replete, this article focuses on the anecdotes and episodes which feature turtles, horses and fishes. These three species make a decisive contribution to the critique of the major institutions in ancient China (divination, ritual, sacrifice and music) and, more radically, of the very values on which its civilization was ideologically founded. the critique of the major institutions in ancient China (divination, ritual, sacrifice and music) and, more radically, of the very values on which its civilization was ideologically founded.

Thinking through Contrasting. The Critic of Buddhism and the Textual Strategies in Zhang Zai's Zhengmeng (1020-1078) The object of this article is to reveal how the pervasiveness of Buddhist phraseology in the 11th century led Zhang Zai, one of the promoters of « Neo-confucianism » to develop original strategies for a new reading of the Confucian Classics. Taking into account the contamination of Chan Buddhist reflection at every level (be it familial, social or textual), Zhang Zai not only produces a critical discourse (which he deems partly inefficient) against such and such a doctrine, but starts from his contemporaries' intellectual alienation in order to liberate them from their ignorance, and, through subtle lexical adjustments, prepares the theoretical and textual conditions for tradition to be re-appropriated. In so doing, Zhang Zai devises various textual procedures to counter the general confusion as well as the Buddhist appropriation of the main notions of early Confucianism. He resorts to extensive quotations, binomes and parallelisms, thereby drawing a philosophical effect from the device of contrast. In this type of speech, meaning is radically contextualised and notions dissolved, becoming dimensions. This critical discourse should therefore not be interpreted locally according to a preconception against such and such a doctrine : it is a global mode of reading, which should be operative at all times when reading Zhang Zai's main work, «Discipline for Beginners» (Zhengmeng).

From Criticism to Reform of the Bureaucracy in Classical Vietnam In this article, the author adresses the question of the criticism of the State in Vietnam, from the 11th centrury down to the 19th century. Does its repetitive, stereotyped style reflect the paralysis of the administration ? This would be too simplistic a criticism, and would not account for the vitality of Vietnamese bureaucracy. In fact, the criticism of the State proceeded by way of gradual adjustments : by changing the behaviour of individuals as well as by improving the institutions. The administrative officer was requested to draw his inspiration from Chinese or Vietnamese examples or counterexamples. Therefore no sudden transformation was advocated, but rather a gradual reform relying on a corpus of precedents, through a continually renewed dialogue between the ruler and the officials.

Others as Fools : Criticism as Process of Exclusion This paper examines some elements of the Jin Shengtan's (1610-1661) commentary on Wang Shifu's (ca 1250-1307) Western Wing. In this commentary, Jin Shengtan repeatedly attacks what he considers poor readers of a text he admires, whom he calls « fools ». The counter-effect of his stressing the so-called « fools' » inepty is that Jin Shengtan continuously seeks to establish an other image in their place : a subject who would be supposedly well-fitted-to-me. In so doing, the critic can ignore the division which lays inside his own discourse, setting his hope on a perfectly univocal discourse which would be embodied by a master's position. Remitting himself to this idealistic figure which frees him from the troublesome problems of ambiguity, the commentator does no real work of criticism : accumulating only small-scale but tirelessly repeated ad hoc notations, he can stay in a position in which he ignores his own willingness of « not-knowing » (the « not-knowing » position there being assumed by the imaginary persona of the « fool »), as what would be to know would be nothing but eventually the division in his discourse, and of himself as a subject. Instead, the commentator concentrates all his efforts into something he knows well : the art of indirect meaning, in which it is easy to recognize the possibility it gives to seal part of the discourse beneath its explicit statement - which is the perfect figure of a securely maintained unknown dimension.

Tastes and Rules : Manners of Western Criticism The aim of the article is to study two cases of Western practice in critical procedures. In the first one based on Hume's Standard of Taste a paradox is developed according to which theories of science and of philosophy are less steady than judgements on pieces of art : the standard of taste seems to be more certain than that of science, at least at the level of centuries' continuity. In the second study dedicated to Aristotle's Topics, the procedures and functions of dialectical contest are taken into account, namely a kind of «game » which possesses its own rules and is aimed to define and to classify various forms of critical discourse (poetical, rhetorical, logical and scientific). These two cases are occasions for a formulation of criteria of truth and of aesthetic value, with different norms in different fields ; they also convey an enduring and strenuous effort to enlarge the frontiers of rational agreement