The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Vol. 2 [Hardcover]

William H. Nienhauser Jr. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 025333456X | ISBN-13: 978-0253334565 | Publication Date: October 22, 1998

"A vertitable feast of concise, useful, reliable, and up-to-date information (all prepared by top scholars in the field), Nienhauser's now two-volume title stands alone as THE standard reference work for the study of traditional Chinese literature. Nothing like it has ever been published." -- Choice

The second volume to The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature is both a supplement and an update to the original volume. Volume II includes over 60 new entries on famous writers, works, and genres of traditional Chinese literature, followed by an extensive bibliographic update (1985-1997) of editions, translations, and studies (primarily in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, and German) for the 500+ entries of Volume I.

Editorial Reviews

Review

With this volume, Nienhauser (Univ. of Wisconsin) updates and supplements the first volume of Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (CH, Jul'87). The supplement portion of this latest Companion includes more than 60 informative entries on major writers, works, and genres not included in the first volume. Prominent examples include Ch'in Kuan, 1049 -- 1100, Chuang Tzu, and children's literature (er -- t'ung wen -- hsüeh (wen -- hsueh) ). In general, these and other entries are a bit longer and more detailed than those in the first Companion. The update portion appears in the form of a bibliography, running almost 300 pages in length, which provides supplementary bibliographical references (mostly in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, and German, covering 1984 through 1996) to the more than 500 entries that make up the 1986 bibliography. A veritable feast of concise, useful, reliable, and up -- to -- date information (all prepared by top scholars in the field), Nienhauser's now two -- volume title stands alone as the standard reference work for the study of traditional Chinese literature. Nothing like it has ever been published. Mandatory for all academic libraries and most large public libraries.J. M. Hargett, SUNY at Albany, Choice, April 1999

(J. M. Hargett, SUNY at Albany Choice 1999)

About the Author

William H. Nienhauser, Jr. is Hall-Bascom Professor of Chinese Literature at the University of Wisconsin. In 1979 he helped found the journal Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), which he continues to edit. Among his publications are articles in a number of major journals as well as several books, including The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Volume I.

Charles Hartman is the author of Han Yu and the T'ang Search for Unity as well as numerous articles on T'ang and Sung literature. He is Professor of East Asian Studies at the University of Albany.

Scott W. Galer studied at Brigham Young University and the University of Colorado and is now working on a reconstruction and analysis of the first comprehensive Shi chi commentary.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (October 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 025333456X
• ISBN-13: 978-0253334565
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,969,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William H. Nienhauser, Jr. was born in St. Louis in 1943. After a year of Chinese at the Army Language School in Monterey, California, Nienhauser became enamoured with Chinese culture, taking his Ph.D. at Indiana University under Professor Wu-chi Liu in 1972. During his early years at the University of Wisconsin (where he is Jay C. & Ruth Halls-Bascom Professor of Classical Literature) his interests focused on Chinese biographies, both historical and fictional. Readings in Comparative Literature led him to study narrative theory and develop an interest in the evolution of Chinese narrative. Beginning with Tang-dynasty biographies and tales, Nienhauser worked his back to the great Han-dynasty "national narrative," the Shiji (The Grand Scribe's Records, ca. 100 BCE), written by Sima Qian and his father Sima Tan. Since 1989 he has directed an evolving team of scholars who translate and annotate this massive text. Among numerous awards are the Humboldt Prize (2003). At present (December 2010) he is reading Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall and recalling an earlier interest in fourteenth-sixteenth century English history.