Books by David R. Knechtges

Discussing the use of rhetoric in the royal courts of China, Europe, and Japan, this volume examines them as loci of power and as entities that establish, influence, or counter the norms of a larger society. It is organized into sections on the rhetoric of persuasion, taste, communication, gender, and natural nobility.

The articles collected in this volume concern the literature and culture of the ancient Chinese court. The court, especially the imperial court, was a major centre for cultural production. It played an important role in education, scholarship, thought, art, music and literature.

An attempt at an analysis in depth of the work of Yang Hsiung (53 BC-AD 18), and of the Fu or rhapsody (a mixture of rhythmical prose passages interspersed with free, rhymed verse).