Customer Reviews

An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

As a westerner who studies ancient Chinese Culture, I've "palled around" with this anthology for about two years. My first Chinese literature teacher taught out of it, but as an introductory text it fell short and most of the class couldn't get into the material as it's presented here.

The translations, as far as I know, are accurate, or at least as accurate as you can expect, though they're also quite lifeless. I'll be amazed if the students reading the poems in this book actually come away with the feeling that they've just read poetry-- I certainly didn't.

What doesn't help is that Owen provides the bare minimum in terms of supplementary annotations. He gives most of the literary eras a measly three-or-so paragraphs of "explanation" before spamming the reader with his impressive collection of literal yet glossless translations. For a work of this magnitude, from a scholar who's written captivating works about Chinese literature in the past, there is simply no excuse for this.

And here's the rub: if you want to learn more about Chinese literature, you can read the numerous, far superior translations of the great novels, the philosophers, the histories, the most famous poets Li Bai and Dufu, etc, by Arthur Waley, Burtson Watson, and so on. If you want to delve even deeper, you can try Cyril Birch's anthology. And if you want to take learning about Chinese literature seriously, you'd better start learning classical Chinese. In short, this book is, sad to say, pretty darn useless. It's not fit for casual readers, and unfortunately due to the lack of deeper effort, it's not going to be helping any scholars either.

This anthology is amazing and really beyond belief - rich in poetry and commentary that is deep and intelligent. This book (at over 1,200 pages) is virtually an encyclopedia of traditional Chinese culture, and it's fascinating to read the poems in the context of the world in which they were written. The range of work is vast to say the least, and is utterly absorping; this is far and away my favorite of the larger anthologies of traditional Chinese poetry.

Anybody who has a decent knowledge of both the language and culture of traditional China will be dismayed at the errors and infelicities scattered throughout the anthology. Many of the errors are highly primitive and ludicrous, and it is extremely disappointing to see that they came from the hands of a well-known scholar. For example, Owen seems to be totally ignorant of some very common Chinese ways to indicate numbers. In one of Pu Songling's stories, Lianxiang, the phrase "three five nights" in the original should be translated as FIFTEEN (i.e., 3 x 5) nights instead of "three or five nights." Again, in a love song from the Classic of Poetry, the dwindling of the woman's marriage chances is compared to the steady falling of the mature plums from the tree (In the beginning, SEVENTY PERCENT of the fruits are on the tree; then there are THIRTY PERCENT; as Owen translates it, first there were SEVEN plums and then there were THREE, the poem becomes ridiculous and inscrutable.)

Owen is not being accused of being a bad mathematician. A student who has had two years of classical Chinese and got his tuition's worth by all means should know such stuff. A frustrated reader, as I am, will hardly have the patience to go into numerous other instances of wrong or bad translations on a higher level in order to discredit this work, which the author himself describes as "another big book."

Big names only do disservice to themselves by fast-produced, slipshod big books (I do not want to mention the typos and weird sentences in the book, which are not rare, either). Those who have a serious interest in knowing about classical Chinese literature and who are looking for a textbook to be used for undergrads are urged to turn to other sources or at least to take great caution in use.

Stephen Owen personally collated and translated nearly all of the texts in this work, allowing the reader to get a sense of the nuances between differing texts without the anxiety that they are getting the nuances between differing translators. His translations are not only precise, but demonstrate a genuine love not only of the Chinese language, but the English language as well. This anthology takes the reader from the beginnings of poetry to historical essays to literary criticism to drama, all with the same exacting eye on detail and lyricism. What a pleasure to read.

1. Should include a list that tells readers the original Chinese titles, names, nouns of works, authors, concepts discussed but doesn't. This the most annoying issue.
2. Quality of translation uneven.
3. Doesn't include political-oriented works.
4. Introduction and notes extremely insufficient.
5. It took Norton five tomes (World Masterpieces, English Lit 1 & 2, and American Lit 1 & 2) to include the important works for Anglo-Saxon lit, but one for Chinese lit? We need more people to help Owen and the study of Chinese lit in general.

One of the best translations of classical Chinese literature. The author knows the Chinese well: not just the superficial kind knowledge about the Chinese language, but a deep understanding of the Chinese culture, the Chinese literary tradition. The works are not only arranged in a chronological order (with useful background introductions) but also grouped under themes and motifs with succinct but illuminating critical introductions, or a seductively told story that adds to the pleasure of reading beautiful literary writings. The another great thing about this anthology is, of course, the fact that it is put together by one person, not coming out of diverse hands. This is a significant accomplishment, one that enables the reader to see the styles and nuances of the original works much better than otherwise.

Owen's anthology is no less than a work of a genious. What makes this work so great on the one hand is its scope as it covers chinese literature from its beginings up to the twentieth century, the various genres of literature and poetry that existed along the Chinese history and the fact that it provides excellent introductions to each and every subject it deals with ( including historical introductions ), and on the other hand, it's greatness lies in the fact that all the works in it were translated by Owen himself and in the most beautifull way. absolutely recommended!

"big book, big drag" quipped callimachus some two millenia ago. Though I don't always share his dislike of literary largeness, in this case his words ring cruelly true

The quality of the translations is overall quite poor. That is, one can't tell what is being said. The footnotes don't clear things up, and the introductory notes are often as not simply fatuous. Cyril Branch's anthology from Columbia, though not great, is worlds better than this shoddy magnum opus.

This is one of the best translations of classical Chinese literature. One of those that come closest to the spirit of the works translated there. The translator has great command of both classical Chinese and English, as well as a profound understanding and love of Chinese literature. The critical introductions are illuminating--a wonderful fresh perspective, often inspiring; the background introductions concise and useful. This is a "must" for all those who love literature--be it Chinese or English.

This book is REALLY big, so it has plenty of information. If you're into chinese literature or just a little curious there's definitely something inside for you!