Publisher Description

Though collections of Chinese fiction, poetry, and drama abound, there have been no English-language anthologies of Chinese essays on the market. Now, veteran sinologist David Pollard has selected and translated the best and most representative examples of Chinese prose writing from the third century to the contemporary period.

Succinctly tracing the history of the genre in China in his introduction, Pollard then wittily and informatively introduces each writer chosen. The selections themselves include Ye Shengtao's ruminations of making a boat trip to visit his ancestors' graves, Fan Bao on life in prison, Gui Yougang's reminiscence of his mother, Yuan Mei's essay on borrowing books, and more. These writings not only give us marvelous little sketches of everyday life, lifting the curtain to a past world, they reveal still more about the minds of the writers and how they saw the world they lived in.

Though the compositions span the past 1,800 years, the bulk of the selections are from the twentieth century and range from early masters of the form, such as Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren, to the major writers of the middle generation, such as Ye Chengtao, Zhu Ziqing, Feng Zikai, Liang Shiqiu, and Liang Yuchun, and conclude with living writers who publish in both Taiwan and the mainland.

Pollard's aim has been to translate examples that are both good in and of themselves and also contribute something to the essay form. The classical selections represent the native tradition that the modern essayists either imitated or reacted against. Taken together, these writings illuminate Chinese attitudes and reactions to the world they inhabit and provide a vast amount of information about the details of everyday life, social intercourse, and man's reaction to his environment.

Notes

"These translations are based on sound scholarship and very wide reading. The pieces that introduce each essay are clear, informative, witty, and memorable. They are aimed at the general reader... someone who wants to understand what concerns Chinese authors over the ages have dealt with in essay form, who would like to get an idea of their stylistic approach, who wishes to get an insight into the imaginative processes of a range of fascinating individuals, and who is motivated by a wish to broaden his or her own experience in other literatures." -- Denis Twitchett, former professor of Chinese, Cambridge University

Author Biography

thompson teaches american studies at the university of east anglia

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements Skeleton Chronology Introduction To Lead out the Army, by Zhuge Liang Requiem for Myself, by Tao Qian Address to the Crocodiles of Chaozhou, by Han Yu Goodbye to Penury The Whip Vendor, by Liu Zongyuan My First Excursion to West Mountain The Small Rock Poor West of the Hillock A Monument to Rustic Temples, by Lu Guimeng The Old Toper's Pavilion, by Ouyang Xiu The Terrace over the Void, by Su Shi Master Table Mountain Red Cliff: One Inscription for the Temple of Han Yu at Chaozhou The Pavilion of Elation, by Su Che The Mosquito Dialogue, by Fang Xiaoru My Mother: A Brief Life, by Gui Youguang The Xiangji Studio Tiger Hill, by Yuan Hongdao The Rewards of Stupidity The Full Moon Festival at the West Lake, by Zhang Dai Wang Yuesheng Liu Jingting: Storyteller The Jades of Yangshou Pleasant Diversions: Judging Beauty, by Li Yu Pleasant Diversions: Accomplishments Pleasant Diversions: Literacy Pleasant Diversions: Clothes Life in Prison, by Fang Bao Thoughts on Master Huang's Book Borrowing, by Yuan Mei Three Summer Pests, by Lu Xun The Evolution of the Male Sex Ah Jin Confucius in Modern China Relentless Rain, by Zhou Zuoren Reading in the Lavatory On 'Passing the Itch' The Ageing of Ghosts In Praise of Mutes The Ornamental Iron Mountain, by Xia Mianzun Winter at White Horse Lake Three Kinds of Boat, by Ye Shengtao My Own Patch of Green Intellectuals Eating Melon Seeds, by Feng Zikai Autumn Bombs in Yishan Village School and Academy, by Yu Dafu The Winter Scene in Jiangnan The View from the Rear, by Zhu Ziqing Traces of Wenzhou The Lotus Pond by Moonlight Sickness, by Liang Shi-ch'iu Haircut Listening to Plays On the Road, by Liang Yuchun Well-meant Words A Temple Lodging, by Lu Li The Art of Listening, by Yang Jiang Cloak of Invisibility Elegy, by He Qifang Chignon, by Ch'I Chun The Religion of the Chinese, by Eileen Chang A Beating The Last Word in Beauty and Ugliness, by Wang Ting-chun Footprints Thus Friends Absent Speak, by Yu Kwang-chung My Four Hypothetical Enemies The Call of the Ruins, by Zongpu The Countryside of the Past, by Koarnhak Tarn Today's Countryside We Can't Bring Back the Past, by Huang Chunming Waiting for a Flower's Name Shanghai People, by Yu Qiuyu Goodwives, by Zhang Xingjian References

Review

"In keeping with its venerable tradition of publishing scholarship on China, Columbia has produced a groundbreaking work edited by a respected Sinologist and translator. In his lengthy and useful introduction to this collection of essays by 36 Chinese authors, Pollard discusses the important differences between the Western notion of 'essay' and its Chinese version--or sanwen (everything that is not a poem)--which is steeped in the classical school curriculum...Pollard's up-to-date, lucid translations of this specialized form of prose can be read effectively as a companion piece to Elizabeth Buckley Ebrey's sourcebook Chinese Civilization and Society (CH, Jul'81) by anyone interested in serious study of Chinese history and culture." -- Choice

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