The King’s Slaughterer Or the Royal Way of Nourishing Life

Main Article Content

Hans-Georg Moeller

Abstract

This essay suggests an alternative reading of the “Cook Ding” story in the Zhuangzi as a critique of political ritual in early China and of the violent domestication regime it represents. The story satirically reverses the ritual invisibilization of a slaughter of humans and beasts. It parodies a murderous “royal way of life” by having a butcher perform a ritual slaughter in front of a ruler.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

Section
Dossier

References

Chinese Text Project. https://ctext.org. Accedido el 12 de Julio de 2018.

Graham, A. C. Chuang-Tzu. The Inner Chapters. Indianápolis, Hackett, 2001.

Graziani, Romain. “When Princes Awake in Kitchens: Zhuangzi’s Rewriting of a Culinary Myth”. Of Tripod and Palate: Of Food, Politics, and Religion in Early China. Ed. Roel Sterckx. Londres, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, pp. 62-74.

Lau, D. C. Mencius. Londres, Penguin, 1970.

Morreall, John. “Philosophy of Humor”. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 edition). Ed. Edward N. Zalta. http://plato.stanford.edu./archives/spr2013/entries/humor/.

Sterckx, Roel. “Food and Philosophy in Early China”. Of Tripod and Palate: Of Food, Politics, and Religion in Early China. Ed. Roel Sterckx. Londres, Palgrave Mac-millan, 2005, pp. 34-61.

Ziporyn, Brook. Zhuangzi. The Essential Writings. With Selections from Traditional Commentaries. Indianápolis, Hackett, 2009.