A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter
An engaging look at the aphorism, the shortest literary form, across time, languages, and cultures

Aphorisms—or short philosophical sayings—appear everywhere, from Confucius to Twitter, the Buddha to the Bible, Heraclitus to Nietzsche. Yet despite this ubiquity, the aphorism is the least studied literary form. What are its origins? How did it develop? Were the enigmatic sayings of charismatic sages the original “social media”? And why do some of our most celebrated modern philosophers use aphoristic fragments to convey their deepest ideas? In A Theory of the Aphorism, Andrew Hui crisscrosses histories and cultures to answer these questions and more. Encompassing literature, philology, and philosophy, A Theory of the Aphorism invites us to reflect anew on the meaning of this pithiest of literary forms.

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A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter
An engaging look at the aphorism, the shortest literary form, across time, languages, and cultures

Aphorisms—or short philosophical sayings—appear everywhere, from Confucius to Twitter, the Buddha to the Bible, Heraclitus to Nietzsche. Yet despite this ubiquity, the aphorism is the least studied literary form. What are its origins? How did it develop? Were the enigmatic sayings of charismatic sages the original “social media”? And why do some of our most celebrated modern philosophers use aphoristic fragments to convey their deepest ideas? In A Theory of the Aphorism, Andrew Hui crisscrosses histories and cultures to answer these questions and more. Encompassing literature, philology, and philosophy, A Theory of the Aphorism invites us to reflect anew on the meaning of this pithiest of literary forms.

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A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter

A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter

by Andrew Hui
A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter

A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter

by Andrew Hui

Paperback

$23.95 
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Overview

An engaging look at the aphorism, the shortest literary form, across time, languages, and cultures

Aphorisms—or short philosophical sayings—appear everywhere, from Confucius to Twitter, the Buddha to the Bible, Heraclitus to Nietzsche. Yet despite this ubiquity, the aphorism is the least studied literary form. What are its origins? How did it develop? Were the enigmatic sayings of charismatic sages the original “social media”? And why do some of our most celebrated modern philosophers use aphoristic fragments to convey their deepest ideas? In A Theory of the Aphorism, Andrew Hui crisscrosses histories and cultures to answer these questions and more. Encompassing literature, philology, and philosophy, A Theory of the Aphorism invites us to reflect anew on the meaning of this pithiest of literary forms.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691210759
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 11/17/2020
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Andrew Hui is associate professor of humanities at Yale-NUS College, Singapore. He is the author of The Poetics of Ruins in Renaissance Literature.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Line 1

1 Confucius: The master wishes to be silent 23

2 Heraclitus: What is hidden 43

3 The Gospel of Thomas: What is revealed 62

4 Erasmus and Bacon: Antiquity and the new science 84

5 Pascal: The fragments of infinity 121

6 Nietzsche: The fragments of the unfinished 151

Epilogue: A Circle 177

Acknowledgments 189

Notes 193

Bibliographic Essay 213

Bibliography 223

Index 249

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The history [Hui] has written is devoted to something more like what we usually call ‘sayings’. . . . Buy the premise and you’ll enjoy the bit, as David Letterman, an aphorist of sorts himself, used to say."—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker

"This book is groundbreaking."—Nigel Warburton, Five Books

"Deeply informative and extremely lucid. . . . Its ideal reader might have been Walter Benjamin."—Lachlan Mackinnon, Times Literary Supplement

"Fans of dense brevity will appreciate that A Theory of the Aphorism is packed tight as a walnut. . . . It is replete with small things."—Willis Goth Regier, World Literature Today

"Irresistible. . . . Lovers of aphorisms will derive huge pleasure from this elegant and informative book."—Paradigm Explorer

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