Books by keith knapp
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Both Western and Chinese intellectuals have long derided filial piety tales as an absurd and grot... more Both Western and Chinese intellectuals have long derided filial piety tales as an absurd and grotesque variety of children’s literature. Selfless Offspring offers a fresh perspective on the genre, revealing the rich historical worth of these stories by examining them in their original context: the tumultuous and politically fragmented early medieval era (A.D. 100–600). At a time when no Confucian virtue was more prized than filial piety, adults were moved and inspired by tales of filial children. The emotional impact of even the most outlandish actions portrayed in the stories was profound, a measure of the directness with which they spoke to major concerns of the early medieval Chinese elite. In a period of weak central government and powerful local clans, the key to preserving a household’s privileged status was maintaining a cohesive extended family.
Keith Knapp begins this far-ranging and persuasive study by describing two related historical trends that account for the narrative’s popularity: the growth of extended families and the rapid incursion of Confucianism among China’s learned elite. Extended families were better at maintaining their status and power, so patriarchs found it expedient to embrace Confucianism to keep their large, fragile households intact. Knapp then focuses on the filial piety stories themselves—their structure, historicity, origin, function, and transmission—and argues that most stem from the oral culture of these elite extended families. After examining collections of filial piety tales, known as Accounts of Filial Children, he shifts from text to motif, exploring the most common theme: the "reverent care" and mourning of parents. In the final chapter, Knapp looks at the relative burden that filiality placed on men and women and concludes that, although women largely performed the same filial acts as men, they had to go to greater extremes to prove their sincerity.
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Book chapters by keith knapp
Cambridge History of China, Volume 2: The Six Dynasties, 220-589, 2019
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秦漢魏晉南北朝史:國際學術研討會論文集, ed. 樓勁 and 陳偉 , 2018
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Animals through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911, edited by Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schafer, Cambridge University Press, 2018
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Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China, edited by N. Harry Rothschild and Leslie V. Wallace, 2017
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China and Beyond in the Mediaeval Period: Cultural Crossings and Inter-Regional Connections, 2014
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Filial Piety in Chinese Thought and History, 2004
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傳記傳統與傳記現代化—中國古代傳記文學國際學術研討會論文集, 2012
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Places of Encounter: Time, Place, and Connectivity in World History, Volume One To 1600, 2012
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The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Chinese Religions, 2012
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Early Chinese Religion, Part Two: The Period of Division (220-589), edited by John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi, 2010
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Teaching Confucianism, edited by Jeffrey Richey, 2008
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Confucian cultures of authority: edited by Peter D. …, Jan 1, 2006
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Hawai'i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture, 2005
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Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook, 2014
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Early Medieval Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, Dec 2015
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Books by keith knapp
Keith Knapp begins this far-ranging and persuasive study by describing two related historical trends that account for the narrative’s popularity: the growth of extended families and the rapid incursion of Confucianism among China’s learned elite. Extended families were better at maintaining their status and power, so patriarchs found it expedient to embrace Confucianism to keep their large, fragile households intact. Knapp then focuses on the filial piety stories themselves—their structure, historicity, origin, function, and transmission—and argues that most stem from the oral culture of these elite extended families. After examining collections of filial piety tales, known as Accounts of Filial Children, he shifts from text to motif, exploring the most common theme: the "reverent care" and mourning of parents. In the final chapter, Knapp looks at the relative burden that filiality placed on men and women and concludes that, although women largely performed the same filial acts as men, they had to go to greater extremes to prove their sincerity.
Book chapters by keith knapp
Keith Knapp begins this far-ranging and persuasive study by describing two related historical trends that account for the narrative’s popularity: the growth of extended families and the rapid incursion of Confucianism among China’s learned elite. Extended families were better at maintaining their status and power, so patriarchs found it expedient to embrace Confucianism to keep their large, fragile households intact. Knapp then focuses on the filial piety stories themselves—their structure, historicity, origin, function, and transmission—and argues that most stem from the oral culture of these elite extended families. After examining collections of filial piety tales, known as Accounts of Filial Children, he shifts from text to motif, exploring the most common theme: the "reverent care" and mourning of parents. In the final chapter, Knapp looks at the relative burden that filiality placed on men and women and concludes that, although women largely performed the same filial acts as men, they had to go to greater extremes to prove their sincerity.
It is my prediction that the new twenty-four filial exemplars will be a tremendous flop. Part of the reason why the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars have stood the test of time is because pre-modern Chinese found them both fascinating and moving. What gave the book continued relevance was its compelling stories of historical individuals who realized this moral value. In this essay, I will argue that these stories still have many important lessons to teach us. However, modern people need to be taught how to read the stories: they need to pay attention to the spirit rather than the letter of the tales; moreover, the stories have to be read figuratively rather than literally. These tales have significant value for modern people, but they need to be read in a sophisticated manner.