This book begins with a reflection on dichotomies in comparative studies of Chinese and Western literature and aesthetics. Critiquing an oppositional paradigm, Ming Dong Gu argues that despite linguistic and cultural differences, the two traditions share much common ground in critical theory, aesthetic thought, metaphysical conception, and reasoning. Focusing on issues of language, writing, and linguistics; metaphor, metonymy, and poetics; mimesis and representation; and lyricism, expressionism, creativity, and aesthetics, Gu demonstrates that though ways of conception and modes of expression may differ, the two traditions have cultivated similar aesthetic feelings and critical ideas capable of fusing critical and aesthetic horizons. With a two-way dialogue, this book covers a broad spectrum of critical discourses and uncovers fascinating connections among a wide range of thinkers, theorists, scholars, and aestheticians, thereby making a significant contribution to bridging the aesthetic divide and envisioning world theory and global aesthetics.

Ming Dong Gu is Distinguished Professor of Foreign Studies at Shenzhen University, China, and Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Dallas, USA. His recent books include Why Traditional Chinese Philosophy Still Matters (2018) and Sinologism: An Alternative to Orientalism and Postcolonialism (2013).

Ch. 1: Aesthetic Divide and Vision of Global Aesthetics.- Part I: Language and Writing.- Ch. 2: Writing System and Linguistic Controversy.- Ch. 3: Re-conceptualizing the Linguistic Divide.- Part II: Metaphor and Poetics.- Ch. 4: Chinese and Western Conceptions of Metaphor.- Ch. 5: Metaphor as Signs: Bi-Xing and Metaphor/Metonymy.- Part III: Mimesis and Representation.- Ch. 6: Is Mimetic Theory Universal?.- Ch. 7: Western Mimesis and Chinese Mimetic Theory.- Part IV: Metaphysics and Aesthetics.- Ch. 8: Divine Thinking and Artistic Creation.- Ch. 9: Lyricism and Mimeticism in Aesthetic Thought.- Ch. 10: Toward World Criticism and Global Aesthetics.