How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context

Poetic Culture from Antiquity Through the

Zong-qi Cai

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Chinese

Columbia University Press
20 February 2018

Literary studies: poetry & poets; Languages & ESL; Chinese - Advanced Self-Study; Chinese - Poetry; Chinese - Reading Skills; Chinese - Languages

Series: How to Read Chinese Literature

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.

Edited by: Zong-qi Cai
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 279mm, Width: 216mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 666g
ISBN: 9780231185363
ISBN 10: 0231185367
Series: How to Read Chinese Literature
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 20 February 2018
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Zong-qi Cai is professor of Chinese and comparative literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and chair professor of Chinese literature at Lingnan University of Hong Kong. His books on Chinese poetry include How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology (2007) and How to Read Chinese Poetry Workbook (2012), both from Columbia University Press, as well as The Matrix of Lyric Transformation: Poetic Modes and Self-Presentation in Early Chinese Pentasyllabic Poetry (1996).

Reviews for How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context: Poetic Culture from Antiquity Through the

Zong-qi Cai is one of the finest scholars of Chinese poetry writing today. -- Jonathan Chaves, The George Washington University Truly a landmark publication in the field of Chinese literary scholarship. -- Shuen-fu Lin, University of Michigan In this magnificent volume on Chinese poetry, nineteen scholars demonstrate the importance of cultural reading. From questions of authorship to ideology, from the poetry of wars, heroes, women, and knight-errants to that of Daoism and Buddhism, this book offers a surprising and enlightening rereading of Chinese poetry and its context. -- Kang-i Sun Chang, Yale University A splendid achievement! Intellectually rigorous and reader-friendly at once, this collection of essays lets both novice and specialist readers experience the beauty and poignancy of classical Chinese poetry one well chosen topic at at a time. -- Patricia Sieber, The Ohio State University This volume joins others in editor Zong-qi Cai's How to Read Chinese literature series as an important pedogagic and scholarly resource. Leading authorities set seminal poetic texts, across genres and periods, in their larger historical literary and intellectual contexts. A great contribution to a broader understanding of Chinese poetry. -- Ronald Egan, Stanford University