Lucas Rambo Bender

Lucas Rambo Bender is an Associate Professor on Term in the Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures at Yale University. His research and teaching focus on Chinese literature and thought from the medieval period (200–1100 CE), with particular attention to interdisciplinary intersections between literature, philosophy, religion, and political thought. He can be reached at luke.bender@yale.edu.

Specializing in medieval Chinese intellectual history, Bender explores how elite writing from this era transcends modern Western disciplinary boundaries. His work bridges philosophical and literary sources to reinterpret Chinese thought through poetry and vice versa. Key themes include the role of poetry in historical narratives, the entanglement of Buddhism with Xuanxue (Dark Learning), and the evolution of ethnocultural identity discourses in Tang textual culture.

Recent publications highlight his analysis of Tang and Song poetry, narrative theory, and the interplay between Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism during China’s Period of Division. Notably, his monograph Du Fu Transforms (2021) recontextualizes the Tang poet’s work as a pivot between pre- and post-Tang literary paradigms. Other articles examine frontier poetry’s political implications, the rhetorical politics of Guo Xiang’s Zhuangzi commentary, and the use of poetic omens in literary history.