
Chinese Rhyme-Prose
The Chinese University Press
Published on 23. April 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
172 pages
978-962-996-563-1 (ISBN)
Description
Selected as one of the sixty-five masterpieces for the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works
The fu, or rhyme-prose, is a major poetic form in Chinese literature, most popular between the 2nd century b.c. and 6th century a.d. Unlike what is usually considered Chinese poetry, it is a hybrid of prose and rhymed verse, more expansive than the condensed lyrics, verging on what might be called Whitmanesque. The thirteen long poems included here are descriptions of and meditations on such subjects as mountains and abandoned cities, the sea and the wind, owls and goddesses, partings and the idle life.
Burton Watson is universally considered the foremost English-language translator of classical Chinese and Japanese literature for the past five decades. Gary Snyder calls him a "great and graceful scholar," and Robert Aitken has written that "Burton Watson is a superb translator because he knows what literature is." Here his seemingly effortless translations are accompanied by a comprehensive introduction to the development and characteristics of the fu form, as well as excerpts from contemporary commentary on the genre. A path-breaking study of pre-modern Chinese literature and an essential volume for poetry readers, the book has been out of print for decades. For this edition, Lucas Klein has provided a preface that considers both the fu form and Watson's extraordinary work as a whole.
The fu, or rhyme-prose, is a major poetic form in Chinese literature, most popular between the 2nd century b.c. and 6th century a.d. Unlike what is usually considered Chinese poetry, it is a hybrid of prose and rhymed verse, more expansive than the condensed lyrics, verging on what might be called Whitmanesque. The thirteen long poems included here are descriptions of and meditations on such subjects as mountains and abandoned cities, the sea and the wind, owls and goddesses, partings and the idle life.
Burton Watson is universally considered the foremost English-language translator of classical Chinese and Japanese literature for the past five decades. Gary Snyder calls him a "great and graceful scholar," and Robert Aitken has written that "Burton Watson is a superb translator because he knows what literature is." Here his seemingly effortless translations are accompanied by a comprehensive introduction to the development and characteristics of the fu form, as well as excerpts from contemporary commentary on the genre. A path-breaking study of pre-modern Chinese literature and an essential volume for poetry readers, the book has been out of print for decades. For this edition, Lucas Klein has provided a preface that considers both the fu form and Watson's extraordinary work as a whole.
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
Sha Tin
Hong Kong
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
286 gr
ISBN-13
978-962-996-563-1 (9789629965631)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Chinese Rhyme-Prose
Poems in the Fu Form from the Han and Six Dynasties Periods
E-Book
01/2015
New York Review Books
€15.49
Available for download
Persons
Translated from the Chinese by Burton Watson, preface by Lucas Klein