C. T. Hsia - Böcker

Brings together some of the best and most historically significant works of short fiction written in China in this century -including such important figures in the development of Chinese modernism as Lu Hsun, Mao Tun, Ting Ling, and Shen Ts' ung-wen. The companion volume to the highly acclaimed (Columbia, 1978), this new volume presents modernist short fiction from the thirty-year period leading up to the Communist revolution of 1949, after which Chinese literature entered a new phase of development. The stories range in setting from the late Ch'ing dynasty through the Sino-Japanese War and the early Communist years, and range in length from brief tales to substantial short novels. Though a large number of the writers represented are leftists, works of all political viewpoints have been included to provide the full literary panorama of one of the most fertile periods of Chinese creative activity.

A vivid chronicle of events in the feudal states of China between 722 and 468 B.C., the Tso Chuan has long been considered both a major historical document and and an influential literary model. Covering over 250 years, these historical narratives focus not only on the political, diplomatic, and military affairs of ancient China, but also on its economic and cultural developments during the turbulent era when warring feudal states were gradually working towards unification. Ending shortly after Confucius' death in 479 B.C., the Tso Chuan provides a background to the life and thought of Confucius and his followers that is available in no other work.

This anthology features translations of ten seminal plays written during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), a period considered the golden age of Chinese theater. By turns lyrical and earthy, sentimental and ironic, Yuan drama spans a broad emotional, linguistic, and stylistic range. Combining sung arias with declaimed verses and doggerels, dialogues and mime, and jokes and acrobatic feats, Yuan drama formed a vital part of China's culture of performance and entertainment in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To date, few Yuan-dynasty plays have been translated into English. Well-known translators and scholars have supervised the making of this collection and add a short description to each play. A general introduction situates all selections within their cultural and historical contexts.

This anthology features translations of ten seminal plays written during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), a period considered the golden age of Chinese theater. By turns lyrical and earthy, sentimental and ironic, Yuan drama spans a broad emotional, linguistic, and stylistic range. Combining sung arias with declaimed verses and doggerels, dialogues and mime, and jokes and acrobatic feats, Yuan drama formed a vital part of China's culture of performance and entertainment in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To date, few Yuan-dynasty plays have been translated into English. Well-known translators and scholars have supervised the making of this collection and add a short description to each play. A general introduction situates all selections within their cultural and historical contexts.

"The great virtue of this book is that it provides a practical acquaintance with the writing itself by means of copious passages of translation from representative novels." —New York Times Book Review"C. T. Hsia's book is by now an acknowledged classic. It truly opened up a new field and prepared the way for generations of American scholars to do research. We are all in his debt." —Leo LeeThis pioneering, classic study of 20th-century Chinese fiction covers some sixty years, from the Literary Revolution of 1917 through the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76.

C. T. Hsia (Chih-tsing Hsia) studies in depth six landmarks of Chinese fiction: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, Journey to the West, Chin P’ing Mei, The Scholars, and Dream of the Red Chamber. While he provides pertinent historical and bibliographical information for the proper appreciation of each novel, his focus is mainly critical as he examines in detail its structure and style, and analyzes its major character and episodes in relation to its moral or philosophic themes. Many Western classics are cited for relevant comparison, and generous excerpts from each novel, most of them newly translated, permit the reader to sample the flavor of the original. Hailed as a classic upon its publication in 1968, The Classic Chinese Novel has remained the best single­volume critical introduction to the subject for the serious student as well as the cultivated reader.