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purple embossed & gilt lettered cloth hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in near fine cond. some mottling on front, 1cm tear front bottom, 3 tiny edge tears on rear, not price clipped (no price listed). nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition. first printing (NAP). lxiv+630p+ translator bio notes. bibliography. background on poets and poetry. 2 appenndices. chronological table. index of authors. chinese literature. chinese poetry. ancient literature. mythology. folklore. religion. ~ "This magnificent collection has the effect of a complete library rather than of an anthology of poetry. The translations . . . are of the highest order. A lyric quality comes through into our own language; one of the great appeals of this volume is its universality . Every page is alive with striking and wonderful things, immediately accessible . A book of inestimable value." ~Publishers Weekly. Sunflower Splendor is the most cornprehensive anthology of Chinese poetry in classical meters to be published in the West. These new translations of poems dating from the earliest times down to the mid~twentieth century constitute a treasury of the rich and varied heritage of Chinese literature in its three thousand years of unbroken literary tradition. The volume gives balanced representation to all major genres and periods and, within each, to the chief exponents of major schools of Chinese poetry. The translations preserve, in idiomatic English, the identity of the originals, including most of their grammatical and stylistic features. The poems range in time from the ancient Shih Ching (Book of Poetry), traditionally assigned to the period of the twelfth to the seventh centuries B.C., to the modern verses of Mao Tse~tung. The richness and variety of the selections are astonishing: long narrative poems contrast with exquisite quatrains, reflective nature poems with sharp vignettes of daily life. Many metrical and stanzaic variations are represented: the five~word shih, the seven~word shih, the "Music Bureau Ballad," the "regulated verse" poem, the quatrain, and the great variety of popular songs, including the tz'u forms, the sen~ch'ii and others. Through the immense variety, certain almost universal features of Chinese poetry recur: a meditative tone, an intense love of nature, a fresh and suggestive mode of expression, a warm appreciation of life. Readers will find favorite selections from the vividly pictorial Wang Wei, the romantic Li Po and the accomplished and durable Tu Fu. But these are only the best~known of over one hundred and forty poets representing the full range of Chinese poetic inspiration~now robust, now delicate; now simple and direct, now richly allusive; now brusque, now elegant; now exuberant, now serene. The process by which the translations for this volume have been prepared is unusual: every translation was done by a specialist and was checked against the Chinese original by the two editors, criticized, and discussed with the contributor before the final version was chosen. Through these expert translations, the work of over fifty translators, the "sunflower splendor" of a great poetic tradition shines through for all to enjoy. In addition to a general introduction, which discusses the salient features of Chinese verse as it evolved through the centuries, Sunflower Splendor also contains biographical~critical introductions to each of the Chinese poets as well as to anonymous works represented in the anthology. An up~to~date bibliography of translations and scholarly works is also provided.
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