The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature

by Victor H. Mair (Editor)

Including works of varied genres from fiction and poetry to folk stories and elegies, travelogues and jokes to criticism and theory, this wide-ranging collection brings together more than two thousand years of great works in one portable volume.

Genres: China, Chinese Literature, Anthologies, Literature

1376 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Victor Henry Mair (/mɛər/; born March 25, 1943) is an American Sinologist and professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[emory]

read it ig dont ask me

[Aimei · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing!!! I LOVE it! Chinese literature is hard to understand though. The great thing about this book is that Victor Mair does a wonderful job of putting footnotes in it to make it understandable. So even if you don't know anything about China, you can still read it.

[Vanjr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started this years ago and just got back to finishing this year. Probably better appreciated for those with a stronger background in Chinese history and culture than I have.

[David Luong · Rating 3 out of 5]

In such an immense book, there were some vocabulary terms that weren't transliterated correctly in Chinese. As a matter of fact, the details given about histories within Chinese literature were factual, but less entertaining than plays I've seen when I was in China;and to me, this book was quite interesting.

After re-reading it this year, I am understanding the historical backgrounds more better with the use of my recent knowledge obtained from Global History class, and from the Chinese class I have been taking over the summer. I learned a lot about literal meanings, and etymology of various Chinese words from this text, and the sequence of events became easier to follow.

[Joe Rogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading translated material that is based in poetry can be hit or miss. I think this one is a hit.

[Jami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing.