The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry: A Critical Edition [Hardcover]

Ernest Fenollosa (Author), Ezra Pound (Author), Haun Saussy (Editor), Jonathan Stalling (Editor), Lucas Klein (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0823228681 | ISBN-13: 978-0823228683 | Publication Date: March 14, 2008 | Edition: 3

First published in 1919 by Ezra Pound, Ernest Fenollosa's essay on the Chinese written language has become one of the most often quoted statements in the history of American poetics. As edited by Pound, it presents a powerful conception of language that continues to shape our poetic and stylistic preferences: the idea that poems consist primarily of images; the idea that the sentence form with active verb mirrors relations of natural force. But previous editions of the essay represent Pound's understanding-it is fair to say, his appropriation-of the text. Fenollosa's manuscripts, in the Beinecke Library of Yale University, allow us to see this essay in a different light, as a document of early, sustained cultural interchange between North Americaand East Asia.Pound's editing of the essay obscured two important features, here restored to view: Fenollosa's encounter with Tendai Buddhism and Buddhist ontology, and his concern with the dimension of sound in Chinese poetry.This book is the definitive critical edition of Fenollosa's important work. After a substantial Introduction, the text as edited by Pound is presented, together with his notes and plates. At the heart of the edition is the first full publication of the essay as Fenollosa wrote it, accompanied by the many diagrams, characters, and notes Fenollosa (and Pound) scrawled on the verso pages. Pound's deletions, insertions, and alterations to Fenollosa's sometimes ornate prose are meticulously captured, enabling readers to follow the quasi-dialogue between Fenollosa and his posthumous editor. Earlier drafts and related talks reveal the developmentof Fenollosa's ideas about culture, poetry, and translation. Copious multilingual annotation is an important feature of the edition.This masterfully edited book will be an essential resource for scholars and poets and a starting point for a renewed discussion of the multiple sources of American modernist poetry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

How can we come to a new understanding of Chinese classical literature when our inherited view of it is so powerfully shaped and conditioned by a 'strong misreading,' which is a vital part of our own poetic language? This question afflicts Haun Saussy in his extraordinary introduction to a new critical edition of The Chines Written Character as a Medium for Poetry, which presents both the edited and original versions of Fenollosa's essay.

Scholarly edition that combines the first full publication of Fenollosa's essay as he wrote it, along with the 1919 version of the essay as altered by Ezra Pound.

About the Author

ERNEST FRANCISCO FENOLLOSA (1853-1908) taught at the Imperial University of Tokyo. In 1890 he became Asian curator at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

EZRA POUND (1884-1972) was a leading Modernist poet and the driving force behind Imagism and Vorticism.

HAUN SAUSSY is Bird White Housum Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale University.His books include The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetic and Great Walls of Discourse and Other Adventures in Cultural China.

JONATHAN STALLING is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma. He is a co-editor of The Chinese Written Character as aMedium for Poetry: A Critical Edition (Fordham).

LUCAS KLEIN is a graduate student in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Fordham University Press; 3 edition (March 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823228681
• ISBN-13: 978-0823228683
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Presents Pound's own edited version of Fenollosa's essay including notes and plates, November 10, 2008

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry: A Critical Edition (Hardcover)

Influences on the foundation American poetics have long quoted Ernest Fenollosa's essay on the Chinese written language which was first published in 1919 by the legendary Ezra Pound. "The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry" newly re-edited by the team of Haun Saussy, Jonathan Stalling and Lucas Klein presents Pound's own edited version of Fenollosa's essay including notes and plates. This edition showcases two obscured but important views: Fenollosa's encounter with Tendai Buddhism and Buddhist ontology, and his concern with the dimension of sound in Chinese poetry. This technical style book, enhanced with the inclusion of photos, explanations, notes and discussion, includes the first full publication of Fenollosa's essay as he wrote it. A scholarly review of Fenollosa's essay as edited and originally presented is a especially recommended to the attention of scholars and poets. Also highly recommended for academic and private reference library collections on the multiple sources of American Modernist poetry, "The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry" is an impressive work of scholarship and an informative work commended to non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject of Chinese writings and poetry.