A Labyrinth of Text
Open Access DepositedNavigating the Twists and Turns of Su Hui’s “Map of the Armillary Sphere”
Su Hui’s (蘇蕙) palindrome poem "Map of the Armillary Sphere" (璇璣圖), dated as early as the fifth century, takes the form of a twenty-nine-by-twenty-nine character square grid of classical Chinese poetry with a complex structure divided into segments and organized by color that allows for innumerable readings horizontally, vertically, or diagonally in various directions. Su’s palindrome, in which scholars claim to have identified more than ten thousand distinct poems, is not only a work of literature but also a work of visual art with a uniquely formatted presentation that is inextricably linked to the reading process of the text it portrays.As an art form, visual literature has appeared in nearly every culture and language throughout history. Belonging to the broader category of constrained literature – a genre which includes calligrams, palindromes, ergodic literature (pieces that require a reader to expend effort beyond that of reading words in a linear manner), and various other works whose stylistic devices impose atypical compositional rules – these works surpass traditional artistic expectations by incorporating elements of both literary and visual artwork into a single piece. In this paper I will present an analysis of the content and layout of Su Hui’s “Map of the Armillary Sphere,” addressing the importance of spatial, compositional, and stylistic elements and the intentionality behind the poem’s construction in its overall interpretation. I will also address the translation process of Su’s palindrome, touching upon the challenges and impossibilities of rendering such a labyrinthine ergodic work that, by design, plays with the idea of the infinite, relying heavily upon the reader’s individual choices to create a unique, non-linear reading experience out of the countless possible methods of traversing the piece.
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