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Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations - Volume I: From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty
The summation of more than two thousand years of one of the world's most august literary traditions, this volume also represents the achievements of four hundred years of Western scholarship on China. The selections include poetry, drama, fiction, songs, biographies, and works of early Chinese philosophy and history rendered in English by the most renowned translators of classical Chinese Arthur Waley, Ezra Pound, David Hawkes, James Legge, Burton Watson, Stephen Owen, Cyril Birch, A. C. Graham, Witter Bynner, Kenneth Rexroth, and others.
Arranged chronologically and by genre, each chapter is introduced by definitive quotes and brief introductions chosen from classic Western sinological treatises. Beginning with discussions of the origins of the Chinese writing system and selections from the earliest "genre" of Chinese literature―the Oracle Bone inscriptions―the book then proceeds with selections
• early myths and legends;
• the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry, the Book of Songs;
• early narrative and philosophy, including the I Ching, Tao-te Ching, and the Analects of Confucius;
• rhapsodies, historical writings, magical biographies, ballads, poetry, and miscellaneous prose from the Han and Six Dynasties period;
• the court poetry of the Southern Dynasties;
• the finest gems of Tang poetry; and
• lyrics, stories, and tales of the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties eras.
Special highlights include individual chapters covering each of the luminaries of Tang Wang Wei, Li Bo, Du Fu, and Bo Juyi; early literary criticism; women poets from the first to the tenth century C.E.; and the poetry of Zen and the Tao.
Bibliographies, explanatory notes, copious illustrations, a chronology of major dynasties, and two-way romanization tables coordinating the Wade-Giles and pinyin transliteration systems provide helpful tools to aid students, teachers, and general readers in exploring this rich tradition of world literature.
Arranged chronologically and by genre, each chapter is introduced by definitive quotes and brief introductions chosen from classic Western sinological treatises. Beginning with discussions of the origins of the Chinese writing system and selections from the earliest "genre" of Chinese literature―the Oracle Bone inscriptions―the book then proceeds with selections
• early myths and legends;
• the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry, the Book of Songs;
• early narrative and philosophy, including the I Ching, Tao-te Ching, and the Analects of Confucius;
• rhapsodies, historical writings, magical biographies, ballads, poetry, and miscellaneous prose from the Han and Six Dynasties period;
• the court poetry of the Southern Dynasties;
• the finest gems of Tang poetry; and
• lyrics, stories, and tales of the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties eras.
Special highlights include individual chapters covering each of the luminaries of Tang Wang Wei, Li Bo, Du Fu, and Bo Juyi; early literary criticism; women poets from the first to the tenth century C.E.; and the poetry of Zen and the Tao.
Bibliographies, explanatory notes, copious illustrations, a chronology of major dynasties, and two-way romanization tables coordinating the Wade-Giles and pinyin transliteration systems provide helpful tools to aid students, teachers, and general readers in exploring this rich tradition of world literature.
1176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
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204 people want to read
About the author
John Minford
35 books31 followersJohn Minford is a sinologist and literary translator. He is primarily known for his translations of Chinese classics such as The Story of the Stone and The Art of War. John's recent work includes a translation of the famous Chinese divination text, the I Ching, published in October 2014, and a new version of the Tao Te Ching, to be published in December 2018.
John Minford was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1968 with a First Class Honours degree in Chinese Studies. Over the subsequent 15 years he worked closely with David Hawkes on the Penguin Classics version of the 18th-century novel The Story of the Stone 紅樓夢, translating the last forty chapters. He went to Canberra in 1977 and studied for his PhD under the late Liu Ts’unyan 柳存仁. He went on to translate for Penguin a selection from Pu Songling’s Strange Tales 聊齋志異 and Sunzi’s The Art of War 孫子兵法. From 2006 to 2016, he was Professor of Chinese at the School of Culture, History and Language in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, where since his retirement he is now an Emeritus Professor. John now lives in his home in New Zealand's Wairarapa region, with his three dogs, Maisie, Rusty and Nelson. His time is divided between translating more Strange Tales in his library, Three Dog Hall 三犬堂, pottering around in the garden, playing the piano, walking by Lake Wairarapa, and occasional trips into Wellington. He spends part of each year at Fontmarty, his old home in Southern France.
John Minford was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1968 with a First Class Honours degree in Chinese Studies. Over the subsequent 15 years he worked closely with David Hawkes on the Penguin Classics version of the 18th-century novel The Story of the Stone 紅樓夢, translating the last forty chapters. He went to Canberra in 1977 and studied for his PhD under the late Liu Ts’unyan 柳存仁. He went on to translate for Penguin a selection from Pu Songling’s Strange Tales 聊齋志異 and Sunzi’s The Art of War 孫子兵法. From 2006 to 2016, he was Professor of Chinese at the School of Culture, History and Language in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, where since his retirement he is now an Emeritus Professor. John now lives in his home in New Zealand's Wairarapa region, with his three dogs, Maisie, Rusty and Nelson. His time is divided between translating more Strange Tales in his library, Three Dog Hall 三犬堂, pottering around in the garden, playing the piano, walking by Lake Wairarapa, and occasional trips into Wellington. He spends part of each year at Fontmarty, his old home in Southern France.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 12, 2017
OK, this book is over 1,200 pages of poetry and prose and biographical info and excerpts from essays and books on the scores of writers represented--and this takes Chinese literature only up through the T'ang Dynasty (7th through 10th centuries CE). This is just Vol. 1. So, it's going to take a while, if I ever "finish" it. The editors have collected translations by many hands and have provided extensive information on the evolution of Chinese characters and the challenges of translation. I've been leaping around in the book, but at some point I guess I'll have to be more methodical in my approach. Fantastic so far!
Read
January 10, 2023•Peach blossom spring/Tao Hua Yuan Ji - was a fable written by Tao Yuanming in 421 CE
•the Story of Yingying, early 9th, by Yuan Zhen (779-831), is a Tang dynasty chuanqi story. It is considered to be one of the first works of fiction in Chinese literature.
•Also Three Tang Poems: "Frontier Song" by Wang Han, "A Village South of the Capital" by Cui Hu, and "Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon" by Li Bai
•The tale [The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl ] has been alluded to in many literary works. One of the most famous was the poem by Qin Guan (1049–1100) during the Song dynasty:
鵲橋仙
纖雲弄巧，
飛星傳恨，
銀漢迢迢暗渡。
金風玉露一相逢，
便勝卻人間無數。
柔情似水，
佳期如夢，
忍顧鵲橋歸路。
兩情若是久長時，
又豈在朝朝暮暮。
Meeting across the Milky way
Through the varying shapes of the delicate clouds,
the sad message of the shooting stars,
a silent journey across the Milky Way.
One meeting of the Cowherd and Weaver amidst the golden autumn wind and jade-glistening dew,
eclipses the countless meetings in the mundane world.
The feelings soft as water,
the ecstatic moment unreal as a dream,
how can one have the heart to go back on the bridge made of magpies?
If the two hearts are united forever,
why do the two persons need to stay together—day after day, night after night?
Du Fu (712–770) of the Tang dynasty wrote a poem about the heavenly river:
天河
常時任顯晦，
秋至輒分明。
縱被微雲掩，
終能永夜清。
含星動雙闕，
伴月落邊城。
牛女年年渡，
何曾風浪生。
The Heavenly River
Most of the time it may be hidden or fully visible,
but when autumn comes, it gets immediately bright.
Even if covered over by faint clouds,
in the long run it can be clear through the long night.
Full of stars, it stirs by paired palace gates,
moon’s companion, it sinks by a frontier fort.
Oxherd and Weaver cross it every year,
and when have storms ever arisen thereon?
•the complete trans of The Travels of Mu, Son of Heaven by Eitel, E.J.
Pt. I http://hkjo.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/...
Pt. II http://hkjo.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/...
• (articles)
- Translations from Wang Bocheng's Tales from the Tianbao Era ( Tianbao Yishi ): Genre and Eroticism in the Zhugongdiao
- YANG KUEI-FEI IN "TALES FROM THE T'IEN-PAO ERA: A CHU-KUNG-TIAO NARRATIVE"
• the carps jumps over the dragon gate
• monks and nuns in a sea of sin by T`ang Yin (1470-1523).
•the Story of Yingying, early 9th, by Yuan Zhen (779-831), is a Tang dynasty chuanqi story. It is considered to be one of the first works of fiction in Chinese literature.
•Also Three Tang Poems: "Frontier Song" by Wang Han, "A Village South of the Capital" by Cui Hu, and "Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon" by Li Bai
•The tale [The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl ] has been alluded to in many literary works. One of the most famous was the poem by Qin Guan (1049–1100) during the Song dynasty:
鵲橋仙
纖雲弄巧，
飛星傳恨，
銀漢迢迢暗渡。
金風玉露一相逢，
便勝卻人間無數。
柔情似水，
佳期如夢，
忍顧鵲橋歸路。
兩情若是久長時，
又豈在朝朝暮暮。
Meeting across the Milky way
Through the varying shapes of the delicate clouds,
the sad message of the shooting stars,
a silent journey across the Milky Way.
One meeting of the Cowherd and Weaver amidst the golden autumn wind and jade-glistening dew,
eclipses the countless meetings in the mundane world.
The feelings soft as water,
the ecstatic moment unreal as a dream,
how can one have the heart to go back on the bridge made of magpies?
If the two hearts are united forever,
why do the two persons need to stay together—day after day, night after night?
Du Fu (712–770) of the Tang dynasty wrote a poem about the heavenly river:
天河
常時任顯晦，
秋至輒分明。
縱被微雲掩，
終能永夜清。
含星動雙闕，
伴月落邊城。
牛女年年渡，
何曾風浪生。
The Heavenly River
Most of the time it may be hidden or fully visible,
but when autumn comes, it gets immediately bright.
Even if covered over by faint clouds,
in the long run it can be clear through the long night.
Full of stars, it stirs by paired palace gates,
moon’s companion, it sinks by a frontier fort.
Oxherd and Weaver cross it every year,
and when have storms ever arisen thereon?
•the complete trans of The Travels of Mu, Son of Heaven by Eitel, E.J.
Pt. I http://hkjo.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/...
Pt. II http://hkjo.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/...
• (articles)
- Translations from Wang Bocheng's Tales from the Tianbao Era ( Tianbao Yishi ): Genre and Eroticism in the Zhugongdiao
- YANG KUEI-FEI IN "TALES FROM THE T'IEN-PAO ERA: A CHU-KUNG-TIAO NARRATIVE"
• the carps jumps over the dragon gate
• monks and nuns in a sea of sin by T`ang Yin (1470-1523).
October 6, 2019
This is the very best anthology of classical Chinese literature you can find, comprehensively annotated and introduced, and containing a wide variety of translations and translators, which makes it essential reading for anyone with an interest in literary translation as well. Indispensable.
March 5, 2013
Riesig und umfassend - aber auch unübersichtlich
Wow, ist das ein Wälzer, ist der erste Gedanke. Und wenn man sich die Inhaltsübersicht anschaut, dann ist das auch der zweite, denn hier wird ein riesiger Bogen gespannt von den Anfängen der chinesischen Schrift bis zur Blüte der Dichtkunst der Tang-Dynastie. Zu jedem Thema gibt es eine kurze Einleitung, diverse Stimmen aus praktisch jeder Phase der Sinologie von lateinischen Übersetzungen der Jesuiten über französische bis hin zu den modernen englischen Übertragungen von Giles, Hawkes und Minford selbst. Viele Textstücke sind parallel in mehreren Übersetzungen vorhanden, was einem einen einmaligen Einblick in die Übersetzungsarbeit gibt.
Hier findet sich also sowohl für Studenten der chinesischen Literatur etwas, als auch für die der Übersetzung; auch für mich, der "einfach nur" gerne chinesische klassische Literatur zum Zeitvertreib liest, sind viele Perlen zu finden.
Der einzige Negativpunkt, der allerdings doch den Gesamteindruck etwas trübt und einen Stern kostet, ist die relativ unübersichtliche Aufmachung des ganzen; allein das Inhaltsverzeichnis ist über 40 Seiten so verteilt und von Schriftgrad und -art so einheitlich, dass man zum Nachschlagen doch etwas länger braucht. Auch die einzelnen Kapitel lassen etwas den Zusammenhang vermissen (man sieht kaum, wo ein Kapitel anfängt und aufhört, und auch die Zwischenabschnitte sind recht undeutlich voneinander abgegrenzt), und ich denke, eine Aufteilung in mehr als 2 Bände, die dann dafür etwas konziser und formlich besser zusammenhingen, hätte der Veröffentlichung sehr gut getan. Dies ist aber, um das zu betonen, eher ein Problem des Drucks als des Inhalts, der über alle Zweifel erhaben ist und einen echten Meilenstein der Anthologien chinesischer Literatur darstellt, sowohl in Umfang als auch in Detail.
Wow, ist das ein Wälzer, ist der erste Gedanke. Und wenn man sich die Inhaltsübersicht anschaut, dann ist das auch der zweite, denn hier wird ein riesiger Bogen gespannt von den Anfängen der chinesischen Schrift bis zur Blüte der Dichtkunst der Tang-Dynastie. Zu jedem Thema gibt es eine kurze Einleitung, diverse Stimmen aus praktisch jeder Phase der Sinologie von lateinischen Übersetzungen der Jesuiten über französische bis hin zu den modernen englischen Übertragungen von Giles, Hawkes und Minford selbst. Viele Textstücke sind parallel in mehreren Übersetzungen vorhanden, was einem einen einmaligen Einblick in die Übersetzungsarbeit gibt.
Hier findet sich also sowohl für Studenten der chinesischen Literatur etwas, als auch für die der Übersetzung; auch für mich, der "einfach nur" gerne chinesische klassische Literatur zum Zeitvertreib liest, sind viele Perlen zu finden.
Der einzige Negativpunkt, der allerdings doch den Gesamteindruck etwas trübt und einen Stern kostet, ist die relativ unübersichtliche Aufmachung des ganzen; allein das Inhaltsverzeichnis ist über 40 Seiten so verteilt und von Schriftgrad und -art so einheitlich, dass man zum Nachschlagen doch etwas länger braucht. Auch die einzelnen Kapitel lassen etwas den Zusammenhang vermissen (man sieht kaum, wo ein Kapitel anfängt und aufhört, und auch die Zwischenabschnitte sind recht undeutlich voneinander abgegrenzt), und ich denke, eine Aufteilung in mehr als 2 Bände, die dann dafür etwas konziser und formlich besser zusammenhingen, hätte der Veröffentlichung sehr gut getan. Dies ist aber, um das zu betonen, eher ein Problem des Drucks als des Inhalts, der über alle Zweifel erhaben ist und einen echten Meilenstein der Anthologien chinesischer Literatur darstellt, sowohl in Umfang als auch in Detail.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews