Chinese Calligraphy: From Pictograph to Ideogram: the History of 214 Essential Chinese/japanese Characters [Hardcover]

Edoardo Fazzioli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 1987

This book, which introduces the Westerner to a rich and mysterious world, is based on a classic compilation of the Chinese language done in the 18th century, which determined that the characters then in use were devised from 214 root pictographs or symbols. These key characters, called radicals, are all delightfully presented in this volume, with their graphic development traced through stages to the present representation, where even now (in many of them) one can easily make out what was originaly pictured - with the author's guidance. Centuries ago, when the Japaense took up writing, they also adopted these symbols, though giving them different names in their own spoken language.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 252 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press (October 9, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896597741
• ISBN-13: 978-0896597747
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #854,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but fuzzy in present-day accuracy, December 6, 1999

By 

Liralen Li (Erie, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinese Calligraphy: From Pictograph to Ideogram: the History of 214 Essential Chinese/japanese Characters (Hardcover)

It's cool in concept. 214 characters, many of which are the basis of the characters used in Chinese and Japanese; however, some of the excusion is a bit off. It is well organized, by types of items and does capture the fact that each elementary element is used in combination with others in creating more complex words. It's also very good in showing that nearly all the pictographs are grounded in something real or combinations thereof. The main meanings are fairly clear in English.

The problems include a) the 'pronounciations' in 'Chinese' aren't standardized or explicitly stated as to which dialect they are and since Chinese dialects are pronounced entirely differently it's nigh on useless, b) there is no source for where the heck he got the 'evolutionary' pictographs or if they're anything other than what's in his own head, c) some of the meanings he attributes to some phrases are just right off and, finally, an aesthetic nit d) the characters are written square-on rather than with any graceful posture. If you copied these characters and showed them to a Chinese calligrapher, they'd state that you must have learned them from a Westerner.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Childish Scripts, July 29, 2002

By 

K K YAU (Stony Brook, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinese Calligraphy: From Pictograph to Ideogram: the History of 214 Essential Chinese/japanese Characters (Hardcover)

I am Chinese and I have practise the art. The scripts on the book look unbalanced, as if a child has written it. My advice to the author is:
read the masters, ... Honestly, the modern "standard" (Kai Su) style is the hardest to master, harder even than the "grass" or "walking" (cursive) styles, because the balance between stability and fluidity is very subtle.
The best way to start is from either "Sun Su" or "Dae Su", which are more stable and solid, where balance is easier to obtain, and whose strokes are also simpler.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of a kind...but definitely not Japanese, November 3, 2004

By 

Al G. "fivedeck" (Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinese Calligraphy: From Pictograph to Ideogram: the History of 214 Essential Chinese/japanese Characters (Hardcover)

I have been inspired by this book to pursue the study of Chinese characters to a deeper level. On the other hand, the more I read and compare it to other resources on the same subject, the more critical I become.

This book has inspired me to a deeper study of Chinese radicals (for a better understanding of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean). The result - I've found it makes a great stepping stone, and can be used for comparative analysis of the surprising variety of information available to English speakers mostly through the internet, or through native language dictionaries for those with access, but it should NOT be relied upon as a single source for learning, teaching, or research. It is reasonably educational and artistic, but not authoritative.

Even though I love this book and go back to it occasionally, there is one huge glaring error, to the point of unethical advertising, starting on the cover of the book. The title misleadingly contains the word "Japanese." Although Chinese characters are an important part of the Japanese language, it contains NOTHING about Japanese. You would have to be aware of Japanese independently of this book in order to make the connection that is made ONLY in the title. It is an English language book explaining aspects of Chinese, with the use of simplified characters created by the Peoples Republic of China as examples - although the simplified PRC characters bear some resemblance to the traditional characters that are mostly used in Japan, they are not the same, therefore making this book less useful for dedicated students of Japanese.

Anyway, despite this beef with the title and the fact that it should not be used a sole source for academic pursuit, it has many more merits than demerits. Since it is one of the very few books dedicated to this specific subject as well, the uniqueness adds a little to its value.