Together with the noted Tang dynasty tales, Song dynasty tales have long been highly valued and widely read in the Chinese world. As the first English translations of a selected collection of 12 Song dynasty tales, this book opens a window into the world of literature, culture, and the colorful lives of the royal house and common people in the 10th- to 13th-centuries. In addition to the translation and meticulous annotations, it offers a general introduction as well as commentaries on each tale.
With commentary and annotations throughout, Ming Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader presents for the first time in English 10 key stories from China's Ming Dynasty era. Casting new light on this significant period in Chinese literary history, these tales bring Ming era China vividly to life, from its chaotic beginnings to its imperial heyday. As well as bearing witness to social change across the 100-year life of the Yuan Dynasty from 1260 to 1368, these tales tackle key themes of war and peace and Confucian values of loyalty, filiality, chastity, and righteousness.
The book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey of the genre of Tang tales in English, including discussions of the numerous Chinese studies from the last decade. Tang Tales itself contains the first annotated translations of these famous stories, which are deciphered and interpreted specifically for students and scholars interested in the medieval Chinese literature. Following the model of intertextual readings employed by Glen Dudbridge in The Tale of Li Wa (Oxford, 1983), the annotation points to the resonances to the classical texts; the translator's notes following each translation then explain how these references expand the meaning of the text. In addition to six translations of the major tales (chuanqi, "transmitting the strange"), there is also a rendition of a fantastic tale by Liu Zongyuan, suggesting close ties with popular and oral literature. The appended glossary of terms marks the first attempt to create such a reference for readers and scholars of Tang tales that will be of use in reading other tales as well. The meticulous scholarship of this book elevates it above all existing collections of these stories, and the inclusion of the standard introduction to the Tang tales for graduate students and researchers engenders a deeper appreciation.
The book begins with a history of previous translations of Tang tales, surveying how Chinese scholarship has shaped the reception and rendition of these texts in the West. In that context, Tang Dynasty Tales offers the first annotated translations of six major tales (often called chuanqi, “transmitting the strange”) which are interpreted specifically for students and scholars interested in medieval Chinese literature. Following the model of intertextual readings that Glen Dudbridge introduced in his The Tale of Li Wa (Oxford, 1983), the annotation points to resonances with classical texts, while setting the tales in the political world of their time; the “Translator's Notes” that follow each translation explain how these resonances and topical contexts expand the meaning of the text. Each translation is also supported by a short glossary of original terms from the tale and a bibliography guiding the reader to further studies.The meticulous scholarship of this book elevates it above all existing collections of these stories, and the inclusion of a history of the translation work in the west, intended for graduate students, researchers, and other translators, broadens the collections' appeal.
This volume supplements Tang Tales, A Guided Reader (Volume 1; 2010) and presents twelve more Tang tales, going beyond the standard corpus of these narratives to include six stories translated into English for the first time. The rich annotation and translator's notes for these twelve tales provide insights into many aspects of Tang material culture and medieval thought, including Buddhism and Daoism.In addition to meticulously annotated translations, the book offers original texts (with some textual notes), and commentaries in the form of translator's notes, thereby joining the first volume of Tang tales as the only collections that introduce students to Tang tales while also challenging specialists interested in the field.
This volume is the first complete English rendition of the 45 famous tales in the monumental anthology masterfully selected and edited by Lu Xun (1881-1936). It is the most distinctive, authoritative, and influential chuanqi collection thus far, and many of the pieces are rendered for the first time. This is an important contribution to the field of Chinese studies in the English-speaking world.
With commentary and annotations throughout, Ming Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader presents for the first time in English 10 key stories from China's Ming Dynasty era. Casting new light on this significant period in Chinese literary history, these tales bring Ming era China vividly to life, from its chaotic beginnings to its imperial heyday. As well as bearing witness to social change across the 100-year life of the Yuan Dynasty from 1260 to 1368, these tales tackle key themes of war and peace and Confucian values of loyalty, filiality, chastity, and righteousness.
This book demonstrates the historical changes in early medieval China as seen in the tales of the supernatural—thematic transformation from traditional demonic retribution to Karmic retribution, from indigenous Chinese netherworld to Buddhist concepts of hell, and from the traditional Chinese savior to a new savior, Buddha. It also examines Buddhist imagery and the flourish of new motifs in the fantastic dreamworld and their relationship with Buddhism. This study relates the Youming lu to the development of popular Chinese Buddhist beliefs, attempting to single out ideas that differ from the beliefs found in Buddhist scriptures as well as miraculous tales written especially to promote Buddhism.
The Glory of Yue is the first translation into any Western language of the Yuejue shu, a collection of essays on history, literature, religion, architecture, economic thought, military science, and philosophy related to the ancient kingdoms of Wu and Yue, in present day eastern China. This book consists of sixteen chapters, together with three additional chapters of explanation written by the compilers in approximately 25 CE. This translation is presented with copious annotations and explanations, linking the concepts discussed with the development of the mainstream Chinese cultural tradition, and draws on both modern Western and Chinese exegesis, as well as archeological discoveries, to elucidate this highly complex and unjustly neglected text.
The Linji lu, or Record of Linji, ranks among the most famous and influential texts of the Chan and Zen traditions. Ostensibly containing the teachings of the Tang dynasty figure Linji Yixuan, the text has generally been accepted at face value, as reliable records of the teachings of this historical figure. In this book, Albert Welter offers the first systematic study of the Linji lu in a western language. Welter places the Linji lu in its historical context, showing how the text was manipulated over time by the Linji faction. Rather than recording the teachings of the illustrious patriarch of legend, the text reflects the motivations of Linji-faction descendants in the Song dynasty (9601279). The story of the Linji lu is not simply the story of one heroic figure, Linji Yixuan, but the story of an entire movement that sought validation through retrospective image making. The success of this effort is seen in Chan's rise to prominence. Drawing on the findings of Japanese scholars, Welter moves beyond the minutiae of textual analysis to place the development of Linji lu within the broader forces shaping the development of the Chinese Records of Sayings literary genre as a whole.
