How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context : Poetic Culture from Antiquity Through the Tang / Zong-qi Cai.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Cai, Zong-qi, editor.

Series:

How to read Chinese literature.

How to read Chinese Literature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chinese poetry--221 B.C.-960 A.D--History and criticism.

Chinese poetry.

Literature and society--China--History--To 1500.

Literature and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (328 pages).

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context is an introduction to the golden age of Chinese poetry, spanning the earliest times through the Tang dynasty (618–907). It aims to break down barriers—between language and culture, poetry and history—that have stood in the way of teaching and learning Chinese poetry. Not only a primer in early Chinese poetry, the volume demonstrates the unique and central role of poetry in the making of Chinese culture. Each chapter focuses on a specific theme to show the interplay between poetry and the world. Readers discover the key role that poetry played in Chinese diplomacy, court politics, empire building, and institutionalized learning; as well as how poems shed light on gender and women’s status, war and knight-errantry, Daoist and Buddhist traditions, and more. The chapters also show how people of different social classes used poetry as a means of gaining entry into officialdom, creating self-identity, fostering friendship, and airing grievances. The volume includes historical vignettes and anecdotes that contextualize individual poems, investigating how some featured texts subvert and challenge the grand narratives of Chinese history. Presenting poems in Chinese along with English translations and commentary, How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context unites teaching poetry with the social circumstances surrounding its creation, making it a pioneering and versatile text for the study of Chinese language, literature, history, and culture.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

THEMATIC CONTENTS

PREFACE TO THE HOW TO READ CHINESE LITERATURE SERIES

PREFACE TO THE VOLUME

CHRONOLOGY OF HISTORICAL EVENTS

SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Introduction: The Cultural Role of Chinese Poetry / Cai, Zong-Qi

PART I: PRE-HAN TIMES

1. Poetry and Diplomacy in Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan) / Li, Wai-Yee

2. Poetry and Authorship: The Songs of Chu (Chuci) / Owen, Stephen

PART II: THE HAN DYNASTY

3. Empire in Text: Sima Xiangru’s “Sir Vacuous/Imperial Park Rhapsody” (“Zixu/Shanglin fu”) / Cheng, Yu-Yu / Patterson, Gregory

4. Poetry and Ideology: The Canonization of the Book of Poetry (Shijing) During the Han / Cai, Zong-Qi

5. Love Beyond the Grave: A Tragic Tale of Love and Marriage in Han China / Lomová, Olga

PART III: THE SIX DYNASTIES

6. Heroes from Chaotic Times: The Three Caos / Lian, Xinda

7. The Worthies of the Bamboo Grove / Qian, Nanxiu

8. The Poetry of Reclusion: Tao Qian / Berkowitz, Alan

9. The Struggling Buddhist Mind: Shen Yue / Goh, Meow Hui

PART IV: THE TANG DYNASTY

10. Knight-Errantry: Tang Frontier Poems / Lin, Tsung-Cheng

11. Tang Civil Service Examinations / Luo, Manling

12. Tang Women at the Public/Private Divide / Samei, Maija Bell

13. Poetry and Buddhist Enlightenment: Wang Wei and Han Shan / Yinchi, Chen / Chen, Jing

14. Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon: Li Bai and the Poetics of Wine / Varsano, Paula

15. Du Fu: The Poet as Historian / Chen, Jack W.

16. Poetry and Literati Friendship: Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen / Wang, Ao

17. Li He: Poetry as Obsession / Ashmore, Robert

Acknowledgments

Contributors

Glossary-Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 21. Aug 2018)

ISBN:

9780231546126

0231546122

OCLC:

994206221