The nine essays in this volume, written by an international interdisciplinary group of younger scholars, explore comparative dimensions of ancient Chinese and Greek literature. They illuminate the development and interrelations of two modes of thought – mythos and logos, or myth and reason – characteristic of certain ancient cultures, including these two, during the second half of the first millennium BCE. They interrogate the meaning and validity of these concepts and of the category of “wisdom literature,” demonstrating that they must be understood critically and that their interrelations are extraordinarily complex and productive. In particular, they explore modes of the rationalizing appropriation of mythic discourses – commentary, edition, philosophy, history – which deconstruct their traditional authority but also secure their survival and continuing significance.

Contributors
Tomás Bartoletti, Gaston J. Basile, Thomas Crone, Andrew Hui, Fabio Pagani, Luke Parker, Leihua Weng, Kenneth W. Yu and Jingyi Jenny Zhao.