Hidden and Visible Realms: Early Medieval Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic (Translations from the Asian Classics)

ISBN 10: 0231187165 / ISBN 13: 9780231187169

Published by Columbia University Press (edition Annotated), 2018

About this Item

With dust jacket. It's a well-cared-for item that has seen limited use. The item may show minor signs of wear. All the text is legible, with all pages included. It may have slight markings and/or highlighting.

Seller Inventory # 0231187165-8-1-29

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Hidden and Visible Realms: Early Medieval Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic (Translations from the Asian Classics)
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (edition Annotated)
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231187165
• ISBN 13: 9780231187169
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Annotated.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

Chinese culture of the Six Dynasties period (220–589) saw a blossoming of stories of the fantastic. Zhiguai, “records of the strange” or “accounts of anomalies,” tell of encounters with otherness, in which inexplicable and uncanny phenomena interrupt mundane human affairs. They depict deities, ghosts, and monsters; heaven, the underworld, and the immortal lands; omens, metamorphoses, and trafficking between humans and supernatural beings; and legendary figures, strange creatures, and natural wonders in the human world.

Hidden and Visible Realms, traditionally attributed to Liu Yiqing, is one of the most significant zhiguai collections, distinguished by its varied contents, elegant writing style, and fascinating stories. It is also among the earliest collections heavily influenced by Buddhist beliefs, values, and concerns. Beyond the traditional zhiguai narratives, it includes tales of karmic retribution, reincarnation, and Buddhist ghosts, hell, and magic. In this annotated first complete English translation, Zhenjun Zhang gives English-speaking readers a sense of the wealth and wonder of the zhiguai canon. Hidden and Visible Realms opens a window into the lives, customs, and religious beliefs and practices of early medieval China and the cultural history of Chinese Buddhism. In the introduction, Zhang explains the key themes and textual history of the work.

About the Author

Zhenjun Zhang is associate professor of Asian studies and modern languages and literatures at St. Lawrence University. His books include Buddhism and Tales of the Supernatural in Early Medieval China: A Study of Liu Yiqing’s (403–444) Youming lu (2014).