Writing as a technology brought major changes to literary creation throughout world antiquity. In China, one of the outcomes is the easy (and abundant) production of collections—collections of sayings, anecdotes, poems, divination records, and so forth. Coincidentally, many early literary productions appear compilatory, catalogic, even reiterative. From entire works of philosophy to chapter-length biographies, the basic texture of those writings can only be described as loosely woven, from materials that are thematically compatible but structurally detachable and discursively self-sufficient. This gave rise to a series of postulations that view early Chinese writings as “composite,” “modular,” and based on “textual repertories.” The act of true “authoring” is thus defined as everything that is not “compiling.” This paper seeks to destabilize that distinction. It shows how compiling is a way of authoring and how authoring is likewise an act of compiling. The two modes of writing constitute each other to the point that the most famous “authors” in Chinese antiquity—Confucius, Qu Yuan, Sima Qian—are all “authors” only by way of “compiling.” The technologies of writing, compiling, and later on archiving fostered an “aesthetics of fragmentation,” so to speak, that conditioned the development of authorship.

This article analyzes how the material and technological development in medieval China shaped the reading space and reading experience, which, in turn, influenced the ways in which authors present themselves in literature. Although dedication to reading has long been an esteemed quality among Chinese scholars, it was not until the Eastern Han period (25–220 CE) that reading began to be depicted as a pleasurable and leisurely pursuit. This transformation coincided with the introduction of new types of reading furniture, including reading pillows, bookstands, and book cupboards, which not only facilitated the act of reading but also expanded the reading space and reshaped the meaning of reading. These innovations not only facilitated the act of reading but also expanded the reading space and reshaped its cultural meaning, granting authors new opportunities for self-representation. Through an analysis of works by various authors—such as Li You (ca. 55–ca. 135), Xiao Yi (508–555), and Yang Jiong (650–ca. 694)—across a range of genres including inscriptions, rhapsodies, and verse, this study uncovers how these material artifacts are depicted and symbolized in literature. It demonstrates that reading furniture not only served but also carried symbolic meanings, which contributed to the presentation of the identity of individual author identities. In some instances, the reading furniture became an extension of the authors themselves. By foregrounding the interaction between the author’s self-presentation and material objects, this paper offers a nuanced understanding of how changes in the material culture of reading influenced literary depictions and perceptions of the reading experience, as well as the identities of the authors associated with it.

This paper focuses on the production and reproduction of Yu Xin’s (513—581) inscription on the Maijishan Buddhist caves to study how author-agent controls the presentation of texts, as allowed by technology, to realize what the text was intended for. The author-agent functions as a technician (one who uses technê) to convey the intended meanings by making use of text’s material form.

Yu Xin composed an inscription for a cave consigned by Li Yunxin, the Northern Zhou magistrate of the Maijishan area, in commemoration of Li’s deceased father. The text was transmitted to this day as part of Yu’s anthology but the original inscription was lost, most likely in earthquake. About one millennium later, in the Ming dynasty, the local magistrate Feng Weine (1513--1572) was compelled to reproduce Yu Xin’s text as a freestanding stele in the temple by the foot of Maijishan, in addition to carving on the cliffs some of his lyrical poems while visiting the caves. Reading the series of relevant texts and studying their material bearing, i.e., various forms of inscription, this case study intends to understand the role of the author within a more nuanced network of agents and things. On the one hand, the author (in this case, Yu Xin) uttered texts according to other people, social network and literary norm’s expectation and restriction; on the other hand, simply copying an old text onto another material form still was an intentional act of conveying the author’s message.

By comparing Yu Xin and Feng Weine’s acts of writing down exactly the same words in the same place, this paper argues that the author-agent does things with words not only by composing a text when inspired by the moment and event but also by determining which reproductive technology to present the text. It challenges the validity of classical Chinese theorization of poetry as a spontaneous verbal act in response to sincere feelings but reminds us of another stream of Chinese poetics that sees literary presentation as manifestion of hidden cosmological necessity (well illustrated by Liu Xie, for example) and writing as a way of conveying the knowledge of the sages (epistêmê, maybe?). Therefore, this paper will also be an attempt to demonstrate how authors’ acute awareness of the reproductive technology allows them to opt for a trans-individualistic mode of poetry.

In the 1930s, Lu Xun's literary thought entered the stage of self-reflection and self-transcendence. The tense relationship between literature and politics, as well as the "alienation" of the modern literary production system, led to the "squeeze" of the literary writing action of the intellectual class. In the face of such writing environment, Lu Xun awakened himself as "the author as producer". With an open subject attitude and continuous revolutionary spirit, he actively used the press system to transform the literary production technique for the intellectual class, innovated modern Chinese as the basic "literary productivity", explored a more suitable artistic medium for the public, trying to build an interactive literary production horizon for the intellectual class and the public and to rebuilt a cultural community on the basis of common modern experience. Lu Xun's producer consciousness reflects his reflection on the modernity of literature, transcends the aesthetic logic of modern subjective enlightenment, and contains his unique thinking of life philosophy.