Abstract
The book presents an aesthetic theory which was formulated by one of the most important Chinese scholars of 20th century Wang Guowei in 1908. The aim of his original experiment was to fuse traditional Chinese theory with European aesthetics.
In the centre of attention of present book is Wang Guowei's central term jing jie which is analyzed from the point of view of both above mentioned disciplines. This Chinese term is untranslatable by any singular concept of western aesthetics therefore it is surrounded by a set of contact ideas and categories of modern European aesthetics and literary theory with the purpose of grasping its complex sense and content.
The important part of the book is a complete translation of Wang Guowei's Remarks on ci from the human world accompanied by extensive annotations.