The Life And Times Of Po Chu-I 772-846 A.D. [Paperback]

Arthur Waley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1432630172
• ISBN-13: 978-1432630171
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,321,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sadly neglected classic: buy this book!, January 17, 2011

By 

Panayoti Kelaidis "Senior Curator, Denver Bot... (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Life And Times Of Po Chu-I 772-846 A.D. (Paperback)

It is depressing that this book is not currently in print: Arthur Waley practically invented China for the West (okay, okay...he had some help from Marco Polo a few centuries earlier). A hundred years ago he was busily producing incredibly thoughtful, scholarly, and yet somehow popular books on various poets that resonated enormously with the Edwardian and early 20th Century literary set. It's as if all this never happened.

I first read this book as a teenager, and it helped direct me to 8 years of study of Chinese Language and Literature in various universities and colleges. I gained a profound insight into China from Waley's various books, and that vision and appreciation has lingered decades later (my Chinese quite dormant now, alas! When I open up this book, however, it all comes rushing back!).

Po Chu-i is not considered one of the principal poets of China. He ranks fairly far down in the Chinese canon. But thanks to Waley, he lives and breathes again over a thousand years later.

If you have even a smattering of interest in Orientalia, and especially if you have an appreciation for the finer things in life (like serious literature--i.e., if you can read Jane Austen or sit through Hamlet without yawning), this book should captivate you. If you need to have chase scenes in the movies you go see, forget about it!