Ciphers, or, tropes of ir-reference: The Bildungsroman, realism, allegory, and xing

This dissertation addresses the perplexity of reference: If "the world in itself" can only be known through representations, comparing one's representation with "the world" is just equivalent to comparing different representations. Lacking unmediated access to "the world in itself," one can never be sure whether "the representation" is true to "the world." Referring to the world, however practically necessary, is thus shadowed by a threat of ir-reference.; This dissertation is not a philosophical inquiry on whether such a threat is a valid description of the mechanism of knowledge, but on the suggestive reactions it ushers in. Literature is laden with tropes that presume different levels and subjects of reference concerning truth, reality, meaning, and the unknown. These levels and subjects of reference are examined in connection with four tropes/modes/genres of literature---the Bildungsroman, realism, allegory, and the Chinese poetic trope known as "xing"---which presume 0 to 3 levels of reference. It is in the conceptual history and identification of the tropes through studies of a number of canonical works (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Sentimental Education, The Dream of the Red Chamber, Renaissance English plays, and the Chinese Book of Songs) that mechanisms of reference are scrutinized.; Like methodological and disciplinary mechanisms of reading, tropes make sense of the text. On the other hand, the text also sustains the functioning of these mechanisms by serving as the reality that testifies to the mechanisms' validity. As both realm of reference and object of reference, the text compels the reader to shift constantly between ciphering and deciphering. It clothes different tropes in different histories and theories of literature to constitute variegated literary practices. The Bildungsroman, realism, allegory, and xing are tropes, though they mean a lot more, especially in the meanings of "turn" and "figure of speech" in the etymology of the word. "Trope" highlights the swerving of literary texts not between representation and reality, but as representation and reality amid twist-and-turn.