生命史学

余德慧 / 李宗烨Chongqing University Press · ChinaMar 2021

Rating 4.3
Word count
104K words
Chapters
22
ISBN
9787562497684

Tags

Applied Psychology Humanistic CareLife PhilosophySpiritual HealingPsychological InsightTender SentimentSelf-Reflection

Summary

This book is a collection of essays by Yu Teh-hui. Drawing on his rich background in the humanities and psychology, and through his delicate observations of life, he leads us—in prose that carries the temperament of literature and poetic sensitivity—into the sense of life he has experienced. The sense of life comes mainly from life's own history. "Only when we look back on the past do we produce the knowledge of the present." This knowledge is what he calls "life historiography."

Editor's review

Life Historiography is a work of intellectual crystallization from the later years of Taiwanese psychologist Professor Yu Teh-hui. It is not a work of history in the strict sense, but a deep exploration spanning psychology, phenomenology, philosophy, and humanistic healing. The book's core lies in taking "life" itself as the subject and field of history, guiding readers away from external, linear narratives of social history toward the inner flow of lived experience in which meaning emerges. With his profound psychological background and keen phenomenological insight, Yu Teh-hui dismantles the ways we habitually tell our "life stories," exploring how trauma, memory, aging, and dying settle, transform, and generate unique meaning within an individual's lifetime.

The value of reading this book lies in the unique perspective and method it offers. It provides neither cheap comfort nor standard answers; instead, it teaches a capacity to "listen to" and "gaze upon" the textures of life itself. Yu Teh-hui's writing combines scholarly rigor with a poet's sensitivity, moving between abstract speculation and concrete cases of lived life, building for readers a bridge to understand their own existential dilemmas. For readers living with modern anxiety and feeling that the meaning of life is elusive, this book is like a quiet and profound conversation: it does not rush to heal, but invites you to dwell more honestly and more wholly within your own life course, and to discover there the richness and dignity obscured by everyday narrative. This is a book to be read slowly and savored repeatedly; each reading may illuminate a different dimension of life.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read in segments in a quiet, undisturbed setting; do not chase speed—focus on the inner echoes and reflections the words provoke.
  2. Keep a notebook handy to jot down concepts or sentences that move you, and how they connect to your own life experience.
  3. While reading, set aside expectations of "conclusions" for the time being; try to follow the author's train of thought and experience that "phenomenological attitude" of suspending judgment and staying close to experience itself.

About the publisher

Chongqing University Press China · Founded in 1985

Chongqing University Press is a comprehensive university press whose publishing areas span social and cultural studies, industrial technology, finance and economics, medicine, social psychology, and theory. Judging from its catalog, the press publishes both academic works and popular science titles. Representative books include E. H. Gombrich's Shadows: The Depiction of Cast Shadows in Western Art, Magnesium-Based Hydrogen Storage Materials by Pan Fusheng et al., Research on China's Regional Spatial Development Models by Sun Jiuwen, and titles from the Gynecologic Oncology Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, such as the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Gynecologic Malignancies in China (2019) and Bipolar Disorder: What You and Your Family Need to Know. Its authors work in art history, materials science, regional economics, clinical medicine, and social research methods. Public information is limited, but its publishing profile combines academic translation, industrial technology, and practical medical guides.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 自序 生命经验的历史感
  3. 第一部
  4. 沿着长长劫数的甬道走来
  5. 山海的呼唤
  6. 心灵史的救济
  7. 人一说话，上帝就发笑
  8. 中年又逢春
  9. 命运在说话
  10. 老祖母的眼泪
  11. 野地少女的佚佗路
  12. 语言的村落
  13. 轻轻呼唤你的名
  14. 亲密相知天地宽
  15. 夹在睡与床的身体
  16. 记忆的中间
  17. 爱在情色时空里
  18. 渲染的应答——爱情史学的一切
  19. 哀乐的爱情
  20. 第二部
  21. 从童年记忆的叙说探讨惦念的生命感
  22. 生平简介 余德慧教授

FAQ

How is this book fundamentally different from conventional psychology or history books? The fundamental difference lies in its perspective and methodology. It does not focus on psychopathological analysis or the listing of objective historical facts; rather, it adopts a phenomenological orientation, focusing on the very process of "how lived experience is constituted and narrated," and exploring how meaning is generated and flows within an individual's concrete existential situation.
Can readers without a background in philosophy or psychology understand it? Yes, but reading expectations need adjusting. The book does involve specialized concepts, but Professor Yu Teh-hui is skilled at explaining them through vivid metaphors and cases close to everyday life. Readers need not master all the theoretical background; the more valuable reward is experiencing his distinctive path of thought and his tender care for life, which is inspiring in itself.
What life issues does this book mainly explore? The core issues explored include: the retention and transformation of traumatic memory, the experience of aging and time, the meaning of illness and pain, states of consciousness before death, and how we settle our life stories through narrative (or beyond narrative). It attends to the marginal, obscure yet meaning-rich domains of life experience.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

余德慧 Author

Yu Dehui is an author in the field of applied psychology in Chinese. Public information about him is limited, and his years of birth and death, nationality, and educational background are not clearly documented. His writing focuses on end-of-life psychology, palliative care, and the exploration of the meaning of life, and the library holds three of his works. Representative titles such as Endless Life and Death, Studies in End-of-Life Psychology and Companionship, and Life History reflect his central concerns: on the one hand, examining the psychological state of the dying and the practice of companionship from a psychological perspective; on the other, tracing the human life course and the experience of existence through the lens of "life history." Yu Dehui tends to translate professional psychological knowledge into accessible, everyday narrative, in a calm and reflective tone, attending to inner experience in the face of illness, death, and loss. His works are addressed to general readers and helping professionals interested in life-and-death issues, psychological companionship, and life care, and have had a certain influence in relevant Chinese-language reading.

李宗烨 Author

Li Zongye is an author about whom limited public information is available; what can be confirmed is that he writes on psychological and life-related themes. His representative work, Life Historiography, is categorized as applied psychology, suggesting that his writing tends to apply psychological knowledge to the understanding and organization of the course of life. Judging from the title, the book may attempt to examine individual life experience through a historiographical lens, bringing psychological methods of observation into everyday life and self-understanding. Since only one work by this author is held in the collection, nothing can be verified about his nationality, dates of birth and death, educational background, or writing career, and it would be inappropriate to speculate further about his life. What is clear is that Li Zongye writes for general readers and emphasizes the practical application of psychology rather than purely theoretical discussion. For readers hoping to reconsider their own life experience through a psychological lens, such a work offers an accessible point of entry and reflection.