Hiding the World in the World

Presents wide-ranging and up-to-date interpretations of the Zhuangzi, the Daoist classic and one of the most elusive works ever written.

A literary and philosophical masterpiece of its age, and yet one of the most puzzling and elusive texts ever written, the Zhuangzi has been continuously reinterpreted. Here the age-old hermeneutic project of reading the Zhuangzi is brought up to the present with new essays addressing an array of interrelated topics from a variety of perspectives. These include how the work stands in relation to such issues as mystical experience, "skeptical" and "relativist" attitudes, individual value, ethical orientation, folk psychologies and popular beliefs, and rhetorical logic and structure. By providing ten "uneven" perspectives on such matters, this volume contributes to the ongoing discourse on Zhuangzi's philosophy by placing it within our present interpretive context and pushing that context to new limits.