In the first centuries of the Common era, paper became the dominant material for manuscript production in China. Whereas previous technologies like bamboo and silk had made text production cumbersome and expensive, paper manuscripts allowed an increased circulation of books and expansion of libraries. This revolution in bibliographic technologies enabled the production and dissemination of thousands of new religious texts. This talk focuses on early Daoist scriptures that were created as adaptations of previously circulating materials, what we might call redactional forgeries, fabrications, or falsifications.
Dr. Jonathan Pettit focuses on the complicated overlay of “authors” and “readers” in early Daoist texts, and seeks to understand how readers interacted, consumed, and reproduced scriptures. He argues that while the production of Daoist texts might appear disorderly and in disarray, a deeper analysis illuminates the dynamic processes of textual production in early China, and reflect the complex ways in which manuscript texts were written, received, and distributed. Subsequently, this “bibliographic” approach to Daoist books allows us to better understand how texts were erased, augmented, and rewritten in early China.
About the Lecturer: Dr. Jonathan Pettit is the Associate Director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University. His research focuses on Daoist scriptures, especially the ways that communities invent, revise, and reproduce sacred texts. His upcoming book, “A Library of Clouds: A Bibliographic History of Daoist Scriptures,” examines the production of “apocryphal” scriptures in mid-5th century China. At Purdue, Jonathan is leading a team of researchers at Purdue and in East Asia to map various religious institutions in China. He also leads a study abroad tour in Gansu, Qinghai, and Sichuan provinces each May.