Harmony Garden: The Life, Literary Criticism, and Poetry of Yuan Mei (1716-1798)

by Schmidt,J. D.

• ISBN13: 9780700715251
• ISBN10: 0700715258
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-06
• Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon

Summary

This is the first complete study of China's most popular eighteenth-century poet in any Western language. The work consists of a detailed biography, a study of Yuan's revolutionary reinterpretation of Chinese literary theory, and an analysis of his many contributions to the more original genres of Qing-dynasty (1644-1911) poetry such as narrative, historical, didactic, eccentric, and nature verse. The study is concluded by a generous and representative sampling of Yuan's poetry in translation, the first to do justice to the wide variety and richness of his oeuvre. Although many shorter poems are selected, this is the first translation to include his outstanding longer poetry. Harmony Gardenwill completely revise current attitudes in the west concerning classical Chines literature during the eighteenth century, a period that was long viewed as one of decline, but now appears to equal the golden ages of antiquity.

Table of Contents

Endpapers: Harmony Garden
Preface	vii
Chronology	xv
Glossary of Chinese literary terms	xvi
The Thirteen Confucian Classics	xix
Abbreviations	xxi
I BIOGRAPHY	1	(150)
The early years	3	(43)
In Harmony Garden	46	(50)
The later years	96	(55)
II YUAN MEI'S LITERARY THEORY AND PRACTICE	151	(136)
The principles of poetry	153	(56)
The practice of poetry	209	(35)
Evaluation	244	(43)
III MAJOR STYLES AND THEMES	287	(242)
Song-dynasty verse and Yuan Mei's ``normal'' style	289	(49)
The historical style and the Qing re-examination of history	338	(30)
The political style and the Literary Inquisition	368	(25)
The didactic style	393	(22)
Narrative poetry	415	(37)
Eccentric verse and the Yangzhou artists	452	(44)
The exploration of nature	496	(33)
IV APPENDIX: A TOUR OF HARMONY GARDEN	529	(14)
V TRANSLATIONS	543	(169)
Bibliography	712	(28)
Index	740