In "Between East and West/Word and Image," Geng Youzhuang, one of China s leading intellectuals, offers an original and sophisticated analysis of both Western cultural and literary theory and contemporary Chinese thought. In this fascinating exploration of the respective intellectual traditions within China and the West, Geng shows how the dynamics at work between word and image become a parable for understanding the larger relationship between Chinese and Western ideas.

Geng first surveys influential Western thinkers and their ideas, with a special focus on the relations between words...