Anthony C. Yu
Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Humanities, Social Thought, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, English Litarture, the Divinity School, and Comparative Literature
Professor Yu’s interests center on the comparative study of both literary and religious traditions. The themes and topoi of Greek religions and Christian theology have informed his essays on epics (Classical and Renaissance) and tragic dramas of the West. Similarly, he has sought to reinterpret classical Chinese narratives and poetry in light of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. His publications include specific comparisons of Chinese and Western texts, literary and religious histories, and issues of theory and criticism. His courses at the University of Chicago are divided between those offered for the Divinity School (in both Religion and Literature and the History of Religions) and those offered for the Departments of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and of Comparative Literature. Best known for his four-volume translation of The Journey to the West, he coedited (with Mary Gerhart) Morphologies of Faith: Essays in Religion and Culture in Honor of Nathan A. Scott, Jr. He has also published Rereading the Stone: Desire and the Making of Fiction in “Dream of the Red Chamber.” In late 2004, Open Court will publish his State and Religion in China: Historical and Textual Perspectives.
Selected Publications
- "La Pureté Fugitive: The Experience of the Fall in Camus' La Chute" in Union Seminary Quarterly Rev. (1970);
- "New Gods and Old Order: Tragic Theology in Prometheus Bound" in Jour. of the Amer. Acad. of Religion (1978);
- Parnassus Revisited: Modern Critical Essays on the Epic Tradition, ed. (1973);
- The Journey to the West, tr. (1977 83);
- "Life in the Garden: Freedom and the Image of God in Paradise Lost" in Journal of Religion (1980);
- "Two Literary Examples of Religious Pilgrimage: The Commedia and The Journey to the West" in History of Religions (1983);
- "Hsi-yu chi" in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. with Nienhauser (1986);
- "Literature and Religion" in The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. with Eliade (1987);
- "`Rest, Rest, Perturbed Spirit!' Ghosts in Traditional Chinese Fiction" in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (December, 1987);
- "Religion and Literature in China: The `Obscure Way' of The Journey to the West" in Tradition and Creativity: Essays on East Asian Civilization, ed. with Ching-I Tu (1987);
- "The Quest of Brother Amor: Buddhist Intimations in The Story of the Stone" in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (June, 1989);
- Morphologies of Faith: Essays in Religion and Culture in Honor of Nathan A Scott, Jr., ed. with Mary Gerhart (1990);
- Rereading the Stone: Desire and the Making of Fiction in "Dream of the Red Chamber" (1997);
- "Readability: Religion and the Reception of Translation," Chinese Literature: Essays, articles, Reviews 20 (1998);
- "Xunzi and Cratylus on Names," in Early China/Ancient Greece; Thinking through Comparisons, eds. Steven Shankman & Stephen W. Durrant (2002);
- "Enduring Change: Confucianism and the Prospect of Human Rights," Human Rights Review 3/3 (April-June 2002), 65-99.
- State and Religion in China: Historical and Textual Perspective (2004).
Courses Taught
- Milton: Paradise Lost
- Recent Literary Theory and Hermeneutics
- The Dream of the Red Chamber
- Classic Chinese Lyric
- Journey to the West
