Exploring the Different Interpretations of Shijing in Kongzi Shilun and Mao Poetry from Foucault’s Notion of the “Author Function”

Abstract

Foucault's notion of "Author Theory" was proposed after Barthes shouted that "the author is dead". Foucault believed that we should not only focus on the problem of the disappearance of the empty author, but also pay attention to the formal functions released with the disappearance of the author of the text, that is, the functional meaning of the author. Foucault's theory of "author function" has profound significance for modern literature, and also provides enlightenment for human research on early Chinese literature. Over the years, scholars have interpreted Shijing in many different ways. As one of the most respected interpretations of Shijing for more than 2,000 years, Mao Poetry represents the mainstream view of the academic community to a certain extent, and its historicized interpretation of poetry has a decisive influence in the literary world. Although Kongzi shilun has not been circulated in the world and was unearthed relatively late, its interpretation focusing on moral aspects has provided a new perspective for the academic community to understand poems. This article compares the interpretations of Shijing in Mao Poetry and Kongzi shilun, and explores the reasons for the different interpretations, namely the lack of the writing environment of Shijing, and combines with the two main ideological characteristics of the theory of "author function" to study the fluidity characteristics reflected in different interpretations of Shijing and the problem of "breaking a stanza off [from its context] to generate meaning" in the application of Shijing.