To Die and Not Decay: Autobiography and the Pursuit of Immortality in Early China (Asia Past & Present)

To Die and Not Decay is the only book-length study to date on early Chinese autobiographical writing and the cultural issues surrounding this particular genre. While other studies have regarded texts of the Han (206 BCE–220 CE) and early medieval period (220–589 CE) as antecedents for later authors, Matthew Wells focuses exclusively on earlier texts such as Ge Hong’s (ca. 283–343 CE) “Authorial Postface” to the Baopuzi Waipian and asks what they say about the development of subjectivity, individual identity, and historical consciousness in early China. By putting these texts in dialogue with contemporary literary criticism, Wells challenges Western approaches to autobiography that have largely dominated studies of early Chinese self narrative. Read more