Cornell East Asia Series-A Space of the Mind

A Space of the Mind offers a guided tour through the history of the literati studio in Song dynasty China. More than just a space for reading, writing, and art, the studio became the central locus for literary production and a core part of literati identity. Yunshuang Zhang shows how the studio emerged as a haven for self-cultivation and scholarly pursuits, allowing Song literati to develop and affirm their status as members of the cultural and intellectual elite. An exclusive and deeply personal space, the studio was both a physical site and a mental environment for literati to inhabit and fashion themselves as exemplars of moral refinement and elegance. While private, the studio could also be opened up for select social interactions and could provide the studio owner with a sobriquet—a widely circulated name by which both the studio and its owner came to be known. In this way, the studio became not only a space in the mind, but also a space of the mind, such that the studio and the self were intertwined.