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SUMMARY:The Soul-loosing Grid (mihun zhen 迷魂陣) and Other Novelese Ba
 ttle Arrays (zhen 陣): A Tentative Exploration of a 'Fictional' Reconstru
 ction of Military Arts\, Taoist Rituals\, Performing Arts and Black Magic 
 - Professor Vincent Durand-Dastès (INALCO\, Paris)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251127T170000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251127T183000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/87adbbb5-6553-4d51-b510-e2a60f774217/
DESCRIPTION:Late imperial Chinese narratives about magical warfare are ful
 l of strange figures called 'zhen' 陣. Inspired by the battle arrays of t
 he military treatises\, they are depicted in late imperial novels\, plays 
 and ballads as powerful architectures\, grids or mazes able to capture\, d
 isorient\, or even simply dissolve the enemy once he steps into the device
 .\n\nThough having attracted the attention of literary historian C.T. Hsia
  as early as 1971\, the late imperial novelese zhens remain largely unders
 tudied since. Even the recent studies focusing on the relationships betwee
 n vernacular narratives and religious rituals barely mention them. This ta
 lk will first show in which way 'novelese zhens' are linked to various rit
 uals (Taoist exorcistic altars\, festival’s processions) or techniques (
 divination\, games) and what are their overall structural roles in narrati
 ves\, before turning to what could be the weirdest of all zhen\, the 'soul
 -loosing grid' (mihun zhen 迷魂 陣 ). We will explore its various appea
 rances in novels and plays\, from allegorical uses to graphic depictions o
 f powerful black magic drawn from the female body.\n\nVincent Durand-Dast
 ès teaches premodern Chinese literature at the INALCO (Paris) and at the 
 University of Geneva. He has been the co-editor of the scholarly journal '
 Etudes chinoises'. His research focuses on late imperial narrative literat
 ure in its relationship with the supernatural in a broad acception: He has
  worked on ghost stories and ghost dramas\, dream narratives\, Buddhist an
 d Taoist vernacular hagiographies\, Underworld’s journeys. He publishes 
 mainly in French\, but has also authored two English pieces: 'A late Qing 
 Blossoming of the Seven Lotus: Hagiographic Novels about the Qizhen 七真
 ' (in Quanzhen Daoists in Chinese Society and Culture\, 1500-2010\, Berkel
 ey\, 2013) and 'Divination\, Fate Manipulation\, and Protective Knowledge:
  in and around The Wedding of the Duke of Zhou and Peach Blossom Girl\, a 
 Popular Myth of Late Imperial China'\, (in Coping with the Future: Theorie
 s and Practices of Divination in East Asia\, Brill\, 2018). He has edited 
 the volumes 'Empreintes du tantrisme en Chine et en Asie orientale : imagi
 naires\, rituels\, influences' (2016) and co-edited 'Fantômes dans l’Ex
 trême-Orient d’hier et d’aujourd’hui' (2017 with Marie Laureillard)
  & 'Récits de rêve en Asie Orientale' (2018\, with Rainier Lanselle).\nS
 peakers:\nProfessor Vincent Durand-Dastès (INALCO\, Paris)
LOCATION:Dickson Poon Building (Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground
  floor))\, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/87adbbb5-6553-4d51-b510-e2a60f774217/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:The Soul-loosing Grid (mihun zhen 迷魂陣) and Other No
 velese Battle Arrays (zhen 陣): A Tentative Exploration of a 'Fictional' 
 Reconstruction of Military Arts\, Taoist Rituals\, Performing Arts and Bla
 ck Magic - Professor Vincent Durand-Dastès (INALCO\, Paris)
TRIGGER:-PT1H
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