affections). On genetic-epigenetic interactions, see Jablonka and Lamb, Evolution in Four Dimensions.

54. See for instance, Li Zhi, Da Jiao Yiyuan 答焦漪園, and Yu Jiao Ruohou 與焦弱侯, in Fenshu. On the value of kuang in Li Zhi’s thought, see Zuo Dongling, Li Zhi yu Wan-Ming Wenxue Sixiang, 59–70.

55. Li Zhi’s letter to Geng Dingxiang touches upon the unicity of each individual. On this occasion, Li argues that “from birth everyone has their own way of doing things, so there is no need to credit Confucius for this” 夫天生一人，自有一人之用，不待取給於孔子而後足也 (Da Geng Zhongcheng 答耿中丞, in Fenshu). On the emphasis of being true to oneself and its relevance to the seventeenth-century discourse on originality (qi 奇) in the context of Chinese painting and calligraphy, see Burnett, Dimensions of Originality. See also Nakatani, “Body, Sentiment, and Voice in Ming Self-Encomia.” On the fascination with the mutability and malleability of meanings and truth through verbal self-contradiction, paradox, and irony, see Handler-Spitz, Symptoms of an Unruly Age.

56. Judgment by Huang Zongxi (Chen Qianchu Xianshen Mu Zhiming 陳乾初先生墓誌銘), in Chen Que (Chen Que Ji 2–4), cited in Zhang Li-zhu, “Qingdai Xin Sixiang,” 399.

57. In Shishuo Xinyu 世說新語 (A new account of tales of the world) (5th century), there are several episodes in which these discrediting words indicate hidden talents; such is the case of Wang Zhan 王湛 (also known as Wang Runan 王汝南, d. 295) who at first was considered foolish (chi 癡) but later turned out to be wise (8: 17). For other characters who are depicted as eccentrics but are actually misunderstood geniuses, see Wai-Yee Li’s opening speech at The Fourth East Asia Conference on Comparative Literature: Obsession in Context. Aesthetic pride in eccentricity as a sign of distinction fully manifests at the beginning of the Ming period, but some noteworthy precedents can be found in the late Tang and Song dynasties. Han Yu 韓愈 (768–824) regularly used the term kuang in a positive sense to celebrate subjectivity, attributing it to himself and to other men of letters. Over time these words gradually became an expression of a growing individualism among the better-educated strata of society in the wealthier areas of China (see Santangelo, “Preface,” i–xxix, and the chapter “Weakness in Mental Abilities,” in Materials for an Anatomy of Personality, 323–381). On obsessions as forms of self-expression and individualism vis-à-vis the cultural marketplace and within the set of interactions between merchants, officials, and intellectuals, see also Qiu Deliang, “Pishi Wenhua,” 62–100.