Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe Songs of Chu contain some of the most beautiful language in early Chinese literature. They are also an invaluable source for research on ancient myths, legends, and cosmology. Sukhu's elegant English translation belies years of meticulous scholarship to give the modern reader some sense of the extraordinarily difficult original. A magnificent achievement! -- Sarah Allan, Dartmouth College Gopal Sukhu's agile, sensitive new translations of these beautiful and haunting poems and the lucid introductions that accompany them will delight readers of every stripe, while the book's scholarly apparatus, distilling a lifetime's engagement with the notoriously difficult text, will satisfy the most exacting of specialists. The publication of this long-awaited work marks a great event in the field of Chinese literature. -- John S. Major, cotranslator of The Huainanzi Transformative, smooth, and beautiful: one reads this book not only as a critical update of scholarship but also for the pure joy of the prose. -- Constance Cook, author of Death in Ancient China: The Tale of One Man's Journey
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Nine Songs Jiuge 2. "Leaving My Troubles" "Li sao" 3. "Ask the Sky" "Tian wen" 4. Nine Cantos Jiuzhang 5. "Wandering Far Away" "Yuan you" 6. "The Diviner" "Bu ju" and "The Fisherman" "Yufu" 7. Nine Variations Jiubian 8. "Summoning the Soul" "Zhao hun" 9. "The Great Summoning" "Da zhao" 10. "Regretting the Vows" "Xi shi" 11. "Mourning Qu Yuan" "Diao Qu Yuan" and "The Owl Rhapsody" "Fu fu" 12. "I Lament It Was Not My Destiny" "Ai shiming" 13. "Calling the Hermit Back" "Zhao yinshi" Appendix: Dating the Works in the Chuci Selected Bibliography Index
