Neither a Borrower
Forging Traditions in French, Chinese and Arabic Poetry

Richard Serrano

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Studies In Comparative Literature 7

Legenda

1 May 2002  •  248pp

ISBN: 1-900755-60-2 (paperback)  •  RRP £75, $99, €85

FrenchChinesePoetryTheology

In his wide-ranging studies of poetic borrowing, Serrano uncovers the heterogeneity of influences in canonical texts from the Arabic, Chinese and French: Buhturi (821-97) and the Qur'an (7th century ce), Wang Wei (701-61) and the Classic of Poetry (8th century bce), Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-98) and Victor Segalen (1878-1919). Serrano brings methodologies developed for the study of one literature to bear on the reading of another, and often with surprising results. He shows, among other things, that Mallarmé was really a Chinese poet, that ancient Chinese poets discovered the workings of film imagery, and that the Qur'an's apparently disjointed narrative has a profound lyrical continuity.

Richard Serrano is Assistant Professor in French at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Reviews:

  • ‘A book which illustrates the xing (a kind of evocation or opening stimulus) in Serrano's densely interesting and polysemic introduction.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies XL.2, April 2004, 238

Bibliography entry:

Serrano, Richard, Neither a Borrower: Forging Traditions in French, Chinese and Arabic Poetry, Studies In Comparative Literature, 7 (Legenda, 2002)

First footnote reference: 35 Richard Serrano, Neither a Borrower: Forging Traditions in French, Chinese and Arabic Poetry, Studies In Comparative Literature, 7 (Legenda, 2002), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Serrano, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Serrano, Richard. 2002. Neither a Borrower: Forging Traditions in French, Chinese and Arabic Poetry, Studies In Comparative Literature, 7 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Serrano 2002: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Serrano 2002: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

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