Abstract
This paper challenges
the conventional academic view that Liu Hsieh’s Wen-hsin tiao-lung (or The Literary Mind and the Carving of
Dragons) is a work merely dedicated to Chinese literary criticism. Through
close rereading and in-depth textual analysis, it reveals the submerged
political dimensions within the text--particularly Liu Hsieh’s ardent Confucian
aspirations for official recognition, employment, and career
advancement--arguing that the treatise functions implicitly as his political
manifesto and a lifelong determination to achieve prominence.
