Asian Literature

Filter
Set Descending Direction

19 Items

per page
View as List Grid
  1. A Tale of Two Melons

    Sarah Schneewind

    "Undergraduates will join specialists in enjoying this feast of melons. Schneewind's marvelous little book is at once a primer in some key aspects of China's traditional civilization and history, as well as a case study of an obscurely understood event that took place in 1372, in the reign of Taizu, founder of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). When two melons share a single stalk, and a local grower presents the anomaly to the emperor, the symbolism, the intentions of the giver, the reaction of the recipient, and the meaning of the whole act to observers and later commentators turn out to be anything but straightforward. Divergent interpretations began immediately, and continue to the present day."
         —John Dardess,  University of Kansas

    Learn More
  2. Bashō: Travel Writings

    Matsuo Bashō
    Translated and Edited by Steven D. Carter

    "Destined to delight readers with its vibrant, spot-on translations, this definitive collection of haiku grandmaster Bashō’s travel writings, in prose as well as poetry, conveys the exquisite pleasures and heartbreaks of the road as a metaphor for life itself." —Adam L. Kern, University of Wisconsin–Madison

    "The travel writings of Matsuo Bashō are of enormous literary importance, and so it is a joy to see them collected in this compact volume, in translations of exemplary elegance, faithfulness, and accessibility. The annotations are especially valuable: they show a solid grasp of the author’s life, work, and times, and provide rich and detailed background information about allusions to Chinese and Japanese classics. Along with the high quality of the translations themselves, this thorough commentary makes the book a significant scholarly resource and will help readers appreciate the density and delicacy of Bashō’s writing. A very welcome addition to the English-language literature on one of the central poets of the Japanese tradition." —David B. Lurie, Columbia University

    Learn More
  3. Battles, Betrayals, and Brotherhood

    Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by Wilt L. Idema
    and Stephen H. West

     "Battles, Betrayals, and Brotherhood is a brilliant introduction to one of China’s best-loved heroic traditions. And of course the translations are wonderful—very lively!" —Katherine Carlitz, University of Pittsburgh

    "[A] veritable treasure trove of materials in English for those interested in exploring the immediate predecessors of the Ming novel [The Romance of the Three Kingdoms]. The translations in Battles, Betrayals, and Brotherhood are, as is typical of Idema and West's work, colloquial and lively while simultaneously meticulously researched. This volume is a welcome addition to our resources on early drama and the Three Kingdoms story cycle alike, and will no doubt continue to inspire lively class discussions and productive research for some time to come." —CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral & Performing Literature

    Learn More
  4. Bhagavad Gita

    A New Verse Translation by Stanley Lombardo
    Introduction and Afterword by Richard H. Davis

    Stanley Lombardo's new verse translation of the most famous free-standing sequence from the great Indian epic The Mahabharata hews closely to the meaning, verse structure, and performative quality of the original and is invigorated by its judicious incorporation of key Sanskrit terms in transliteration, for which a glossary is also provided The translation is accompanied by Richard H. Davis' brilliant Introduction and Afterword. The latter, "Krishna on Modern Fields of Battle," offers a fascinating look at the illuminating role the poem has played in the lives and struggles of a few of the most accomplished figures in recent world history.

    "Lucid, detailed, and erupting with fearsome visions, the Bhagavad Gita has baffled English-language translators for 250 years. Stanley Lombardo is the first to recognize that at its root the Sanskrit Gita was oral performance. Beyond word and meaning, past nuance or doctrine, Lombardo restores the archaic tradition of voice and conch shell. When you read this edition aloud the hair on your neck will stand up. Add a drum and it’s a performance. A grand old culture comes to life. Both essays by Richard Davis are superb, placing the Gita in historical context, back then, and more recently." —Andrew Schelling, Naropa University

     

    Learn More
  5. Butterfly Mother

    Translated by Mark Bender
    Based on a Version Compiled by Jin Dan and Ma Xueliang

    "Talk about 'persistent cultures'—this translation of the great epic, mythic tellings of the Miao/Hmong peoples is a window into a huge ancient soul of sustainable spirit and practice. Mark Bender's commentary provides context and details of places and singers that makes it even richer. This book provides new insights into how deeply oral recitation and performance can be embedded in a whole society, and some fresh, stunning stories."
         —Gary Snyder, author of Mountains and Rivers Without End

    Learn More
  6. Filial Piety and Its Divine Rewards

    Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by Wilt L. Idema

    Of the many ballads, tales, and plays extolling filial piety (xiao)—the foundational virtue of imperial China—none was more popular in that era than the legend of Dong Yong and his heavenly helpmate, Weaving Maiden. Continually revised and embellished over a millennium, the tale's popularity remains, finding new expression in Chinese film and opera in the twentieth century. The five versions of the legend presented here, alongside a selection of related texts, illustrate changing perceptions of xiao from the tenth century through the first part of the twentieth in a variety of genres. An appendix traces the development of the related legend of Weaving Maiden and Buffalo Boy from myth to folktale.

    Learn More
  7. Kalila and Dimna

    Nasrullah Munshi
    Translated from the Persian by Wheeler Thackston

    "This masterful translation of one of the most popular books of world literature makes available to an English readership the animal tales known collectively as Kalila and Dimna. Named after the two jackals of Pancatantra fame, this collection of stories is based on a 12th-century Persian translation of an 8th-century original Arabic rendition by Ibn al-Muqaffa‘. Set within a frame narrative of counsels given to the Raja of India by his Brahmin minister, the engaging tales about cats and mice, storks and crabs, tortoises and geese, owls and crows, and princes and ascetics, function as cautionary illustrations of human predicaments and all-too-human vices and virtues. Far from being a collection of children’s fables, Kalila and Dimna is a Machiavellian mirror for princes containing advice on how to preserve oneself from one’s enemies and get ahead at court and in life. The dialogues that constitute the bulk of the narrative harbor a dramatic immediacy, exerting a powerful effect even on a modern-day reader." —Maria Subtelny, University of Toronto

    Learn More
  8. Monks, Bandits, Lovers, and Immortals

    Edited and Translated, with Introduction, by Stephen H. West & Wilt L. Idema

     "This magnificent collection of eleven early [1250–1450] Chinese plays will give readers a vivid sense of life and a clear understanding of dramatic literature during an extraordinarily eventful period in Chinese history. Not only are the eleven plays in this volume expertly translated into lively, idiomatic English; they are each provided with illuminating, scholarly introductions that are yet fully intelligible to the educated lay reader. A marvelous volume."
         —Victor Mair, University of Pennsylvania

    Learn More
  9. Mulan

    Translated and Introduced by Shiamin Kwa & Wilt L. Idema

    This volume offers lively translations of the earliest recorded version of the legend and several later iterations of the tale (including the screenplay of the hugely successful 1939 Chinese film Mulan Joins the Army), illustrating the many ways that reinterpretations of this basic story reflect centuries of changes in Chinese cultural, political, and sexual attitudes.

    "The plots and the elaborations of the Mulan narratives reproduced (and summarized) here demonstrate the many ways in which the Mulan figure has spoken to succeeding generations with differing heroic characteristics and in the idiom that each audience understood; they offer excellent texts for a deep background for any consideration of Mulan in contemporary culture. For scholars of European fairy tales, the narratives offer striking points of comparison with European crossdressing heroines of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries." —Ruth B. Bottigheimer, Stony Brook University

    Learn More
  10. Readings from the Lu-Wang School of Neo-Confucianism

    Translated, with Introduction, by Philip J. Ivanhoe

    This volume provides selected translations from the writings of Lu Xiangshan; Wang Yangming; and the Platform Sutra, a work which had profound influence on neo-Confucian thought. Each of these three sections is preceded by an introduction that sketches important features of the history, biography, and philosophy of the author and explores some of the main features and characteristics of his work. The range of genres represented—letters, recorded sayings, essays, meditations and poetry—provide the reader with insights into the philosophical and stylistic themes of this fascinating and influential branch of neo-Confucian thought.

    Learn More
  11. Record of the Listener

    Hong Mai
    Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by Cong Ellen Zhang

    "Scholars who know classical Chinese have been reading and citing Hong Mai’s wonderful collection for many years. Now students can access these informative materials through Zhang’s lively English translations. They are both fun to read and deeply informative about daily life, religion, markets, and multiple social groups in the twelfth century. The comprehensive thematic guide allows readers to locate tales by subject matter, making this collection of 100 narratives ideal for classroom use." —Valerie Hansen, Yale University

    "Along with her introduction, Zhang's translations provide extremely useful source material for either surveys or upper-level Chinese history and religion courses. The introduction offers just enough background on the time period, the author, and the text, while the selections are the perfect length to serve as a weekly reading for an undergraduate course. The translations are fluent and accessible with footnotes that inform without overwhelming. The selection includes many stories that will be of particular interest to scholars of Chinese religion and the thematic guide in the appendix makes them easily discoverable for both students and scholars. . . . I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in the society and religious culture of twelfth-century China." —Hsiao-wen Cheng, University of Pennsylvania, in Journal of Chinese Religions

    Learn More
  12. Six Records of a Life Adrift

    Shen Fu
    Translated, with Introduction and Notes, by Graham Sanders

    "Shen Fu’s Six Records of a Life Adrift is the most intimate document at our disposal of private life in late imperial China. Graham Sanders now provides us with a new translation for the 21st century, which is not only well researched but also highly readable." —Wilt Idema, Harvard University

    Learn More
  13. Tales from Tang Dynasty China

    Edited, with an Introduction, by Alexei Kamran Ditter, Jessey Choo, and Sarah M. Allen

    "This new collection of Tang dynasty tales translated from the Taiping Guangji is an outstanding new resource for students of China. The stories are well-chosen to represent the fascinating breadth of medieval Chinese culture—tales of romance, politics, revenge, and interactions with the supernatural bring to life the richness of medieval religion and society. The translations themselves are accurate and compelling. The authors and translators provide concise, clear introductions to each story and to the volume as a whole, and the collection is carefully organized and indexed so that teachers and students can explore stories on different topics. Lively and accessible to the non-specialist reader, this volume will make a terrific addition to any course on China." —Anna M. Shields, Princeton University

     "All in all, with excellent translations, knowledgeable and insightful introductions, as well as a user-friendly index and appendices, this anthology is beyond doubt a valuable addition to the study of Tang tales. I believe it will be enthusiastically welcomed by all students and scholars of Chinese fiction and religions and enjoyed by general readers as well." —Zhenjun Zhang, St. Lawrence University, in Chinese Literature

    "The reader of Tales from Tang Dynasty China is struck above all by the impressive quality of the translations, which throughout maintain great attention to detail, style, and precision. The first-rate and user-friendly supplementary materials, including the introduction, appendices, bibliography, and index, further enhance the substantial pedagogical and scholarly importance of the volume. [This book] represents an invaluable contribution to the field of Chinese literary studies and a critical resource for students, instructors, and researchers of Tang literature and culture." —Rebecca Doran, University of Miami, in Journal of Chinese Religions

    Learn More
  14. Tao Te Ching

    Lao-Tzu
    Translated, with Translators' Preface, Glossary, and Pronunciation Guide, by Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo; Introduction by Burton Watson, with Ink Drawings by Stephen Addiss

    This translation captures the terse and enigmatic beauty of the ancient original and resists the tendency toward interpretive paraphrase found in many other editions. Along with the complete translation, Lombardo and Addiss provide one or more key lines from the original Chinese for each of the eighty-one sections, together with a transliteration of the Chinese characters and a glossary commenting on the pronunciation and meaning of each Chinese character displayed. This greatly enhances the reader's appreciation of how the Chinese text works and feels and the different ways it can be translated into English.

    "This crystalline translation of the Tao Te Ching is accurate down to the nuance and as concisely poetic as the original. It preserves the quirks and flavors of the original text. The translators hearkened to the message of the book itself, and kept it clear and gently strong. Of the many translations I have read in English, this is unquestionably the best." —Gary Snyder, University of California at Davis

    Learn More
  15. The Arthaśāstra

    Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by Patrick Olivelle and Mark McClish

    "The translations are the collaborative product of the two leading authorities today on the Arthaśāstra. . . . Their work is consistently, meticulously accurate throughout, yet written in the most straightforward and direct manner imaginable. The material prefatory to each translated section is, again, clear and accessible. . . . Complex matters are effectively distilled in plain language, and the key issues brought out. Superb on all counts. I have been awaiting such a volume for a long time." —Timothy Lubin, Washington and Lee University

    "McClish and Olivelle's general Introduction to the Arthaśāstra is destined to become a classic in the field of South Asian studies; they have translated the text itself in an accessible style that students and general readers alike will comprehend and enjoy.” —James Frey, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

    Learn More
  16. The Butterfly Lovers

    Edited and Translated, with Introduction, by Wilt L. Idema

    “A judiciously chosen selection of the highlights of the famous Liang-Zhu story cycle with a particular focus on earlier and little-known redactions in a multiplicity of genres. Expertly translated with glosses on cultural items, this volume will prove a boon to the English reader with an interest in the riches of Chinese oral and vernacular culture. Scholars and students of Chinese literature and culture will value this volume for the insight it gives into the emergence and development of the story at key points in the tradition. Teachers of Chinese literature, history, and gender studies too will find much to draw inspiration from in the introduction, the translated stories and the background material presented in this book.”
         —CHINOPERL Papers

    Learn More
  17. The White Snake and Her Son

    Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by Wilt L. Idema

    "Both by introducing the legend in such artfully rendered translations and showing its evolution over time, Idema has opened an extraordinary window on traditional Chinese popular culture. In keeping with his record, Idema's scholarship is outstanding.  His ability to translate popular texts into comparably idiomatic English is an outstanding achievement. An extremely valuable text for teaching."
         —Hugh R. Clark, Ursinus College

    Learn More
  18. Zen Sourcebook

    Edited by Stephen Addiss, Stanley Lombardo, and Judith Roitman
    Introduction by Paula Arai

    "This is an excellent book . . . to be commended for its wide coverage; the Korean material is especially hard to find. . . . The short introductions to the selections are lucid, informative and focused, providing a good framework through which to understand the readings. Anyone who wants to work directly with translations of the primary texts, rather than textbook summaries, will find this book the most convenient available."
         —Brook Ziporyn, Northwestern University

    Learn More
  19. Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings

    Zhuangzi
    Translated, with Introduction, by Brook Ziporyn

    Ideal for students and scholars alike, this edition of Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) includes the complete Inner Chapters, extensive selections from the Outer and Miscellaneous Chapters, and judicious selections from two thousand years of traditional Chinese commentaries, which provide the reader access to the text as well as to its reception and interpretation. A glossary, brief biographies of the commentators, a bibliography, and an index are also included.

    Learn More
Filter
Set Descending Direction

19 Items

per page
View as List Grid