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A Guide to Chinese Literature
A new supplement to courses on Chinese or World literature in translation.
A Historical Taxonomy of Talking Birds in Chinese Literature
Parrots and mynahs have played a unique role in Chinese literature for two millennia. These birds that can talk and interact intelligently with their owners were treasured as pets both in the palace and in private homes. The caged birds were pitied for their homesickness but praised for their eagerness to serve. Over time they developed into exemplars of Confucian values such as filial piety and loyalty, and they also featured prominently in tales of love and war. Closely associated with Buddhism from early on, the parrot proved itself an effective preacher of the Dharma and became the favorite bird of the bodhisattva Guanyin. In this wide-ranging thematic study Wilt L. Idema traces the deve...
Chinese Studies in the Netherlands
The Netherlands have a long and proud history in Chinese studies. This volume collects not only articles that trace the historical development of Chinese studies in the Netherlands from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present and beyond, but also studies that deal with Dutch research in specific disciplines within Chinese studies. Chinese studies in the Netherlands originated from the needs of the Dutch colonial administration in the Dutch East Indies, but developed a strong philological emphasis in the first part of the twentieth century, to turn increasingly towards disciplinary research on modern and contemporary China in the last few decades. Contributors include Leonard Blussé, Maghiel van Crevel, Barend ter Haar, Albert Hoffstädt, Wilt Idema, Mark Leenhouts, Oliver Moore, Frank Pieke and Rint Sybesma.
The Kitchen God and His Wives
The Kitchen God and His Wives is a modern folk epic on the origin of the Stove God, widely venerated across China. In this tale, the Stove God (or Kitchen God) begins as a mortal man who owes his wealth and success to his loyal wife, the long-suffering Guo Dingxiang. Guo's ungrateful husband divorces her, losing his fortune and eventually becoming a beggar. When he receives charity from his former wife, he is filled with remorse and kills himself by jumping into the stove. This act elevates both the man and his wife to godhood. Set in China's countryside and ranging from heaven to hell, this tale provides a look at traditional marriage customs and the uses and abuses of fortune telling in southeastern Henan. This volume contains Wilt L. Idema's full and annotated translation of the Guo Dingxiang epic together with an extensive study of the textualization of this work in the years following the Cultural Revolution. The Kitchen God and His Wives offers a valuable look at Chinese folk culture and traditional storytelling.
Mulan
The legend of Mulan--the daughter who disguises herself as a man, dons her father's armor, and heads off to war in his place--remains one of the most popular Chinese folktales despite (or because of) its lack of supernatural demonstrations or interventions. 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. An Introduction traces the evolution of the Mulan legend and its significance in the history of Chinese popular culture. Annotation explaining terms and references unfamiliar to Western readers, a glossary, and a comprehensive bibliography further enhance the value of this volume for both scholars and students.
Mouse vs. Cat in Chinese Literature
In literatures worldwide, animal fables have been analyzed for their revealingly anthropomorphic views, but until now little attention has been given to the animal tales of China. The complex, competitive relationship between rodents (vilified as thieves of grain) and the felines with whom they are perennially at war is explored in this presentation of Chinese tales about cats and mice. Master translator Wilt Idema situates them in an overview of animal tales in world literature, in the Chinese literary tradition as a whole, and within Chinese imaginative depictions of animals. The tales demonstrate the animals’ symbolism and their unusually prominent—and verbal—role in the stories. These readings depict cats and mice in conflict, in marital bonds, and in litigation—most centrally in a legal case of a mouse against a cat in the underworld court of King Yama. Many of the stories adopt the perspective of the mice as animals merely trying to survive, while also recognizing that cats are natural hunters. This entertaining volume will appeal to readers interested in Chinese literature and society, comparative literature, and posthumanist consideration of human-animal relations.
Chinese Poetry and Translation
Chinese Poetry and Translation: Rights and Wrongs' offers fifteen essays on the triptych of poetry + translation + Chinese. The collection has three parts: The Translator's Take, Theoretics, and Impact. The conversation stretches from queer-feminist engagement with China's newest poetry to philosophical and philological reflections on its oldest, and from Tang- and Song-dynasty classical poetry in Western languages to Baudelaire and Celan in Chinese. Translation is taken as an interlingual and intercultural act, and the essays foreground theoretical expositions and the practice of translation in equal but not opposite measure. Poetry has a transforming yet ever-acute relevance in Chinese cul...
The Avant-Garde and the Popular in Modern China
Provides a new perspective on the Chinese avant-garde through the figure of artist and activist Tian Han
