Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism [Paperback]

Kang-i Sun Chang (Editor), Haun Saussy (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0804732310 | ISBN-13: 978-0804732314 | Edition: 1

This anthology of Chinese women’s poetry in translation brings together representative selections from the work of some 130 poets from the Han dynasty to the early twentieth century. To measure the development of Chinese women’s poetry, one must take into account not only the poems but also the prose writings—prefaces, biographies, theoretical tracts—that framed them and attempted to shape women’s writing as a distinct category of literature. To this end, the anthology contains an extended section of criticism by and about women writers.

These poets include empresses, imperial concubines, courtesans, grandmothers, recluses, Buddhist nuns, widows, painters, farm wives, revolutionaries, and adolescent girls thought to be incarnate immortals. Some women wrote out of isolation and despair, finding in words a mastery that otherwise eluded them. Others were recruited into poetry by family members, friends, or sympathetic male advocates. Some dwelt on intimate family matters and cast their poems as addresses to husbands and sons at large in the wide world of men’s affairs. Each woman had her own reasons for poetry and her own ways of appropriating, and often changing, the conventions of both men’s and women’s verse.

The primary purpose of this anthology is to put before the English-speaking reader evidence of the poetic talent that flourished, against all odds, among women in premodern China. It is also designed to spur reflection among specialists in Chinese poetry, inspiring new perspectives on both the Chinese poetic tradition and the canon of female poets within that tradition. This partial history both connects with and departs from the established patterns for women’s writing in the West, thus complementing current discussions of “feminine writing.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Well organized and thorough, it fills an enormous gap in Western literature on women’s literature in China.”—Stephen H. West, University of California, Berkeley

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This anthology of Chinese women’s poetry in translation brings together representative selections from the work of some 130 poets from the Han dynasty to the early twentieth century. To measure the development of Chinese women’s poetry, one must take into account not only the poems but also the prose writings—prefaces, biographies, theoretical tracts—that framed them and attempted to shape women’s writing as a distinct category of literature. To this end, the anthology contains an extended section of criticism by and about women writers.
These poets include empresses, imperial concubines, courtesans, grandmothers, recluses, Buddhist nuns, widows, painters, farm wives, revolutionaries, and adolescent girls thought to be incarnate immortals. Some women wrote out of isolation and despair, finding in words a mastery that otherwise eluded them. Others were recruited into poetry by family members, friends, or sympathetic male advocates. Some dwelt on intimate family matters and cast their poems as addresses to husbands and sons at large in the wide world of men’s affairs. Each woman had her own reasons for poetry and her own ways of appropriating, and often changing, the conventions of both men’s and women’s verse.
The primary purpose of this anthology is to put before the English-speaking reader evidence of the poetic talent that flourished, against all odds, among women in premodern China. It is also designed to spur reflection among specialists in Chinese poetry, inspiring new perspectives on both the Chinese poetic tradition and the canon of female poets within that tradition. This partial history both connects with and departs from the established patterns for women’s writing in the West, thus complementing current discussions of “feminine writing.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 928 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804732310
• ISBN-13: 978-0804732314
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,024,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This outstanding anthology has long been needed!!, September 8, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism (Hardcover)

This anthology has been long in coming and long needed. An impressive accomplishment from a number of perspectives, its 891 pages are organized into two sections, Part One: Poetry, pages 1-666, and Part Two, Criticism, 667-804, and followed by extensive notes and an impressive bibliography of the Chinese and English Languages sources for the selection. Each section is then organized chronologically by Chinese dynasty so that the reader can flip from the Poetry to the Criticism within a particular dynasty. Within each section, there are both short biographies of the authors and selections from the poetry of more than 150 women, with critical notes. Thus the anthology offers a wealth of literary and historical information and a breadth of coverage for translations of the many Women poets of China that has not been seen in the past.

The anthology ends with the early 20th century, and represents largely poetry written in classical or literary Chinese. While some of these poets have appeared in general anthologies of Chinese poetry, and will be well known to scholars in the field, there has never been such a comprehensive work in English before this one. I was delighted to discover among my old favorites like the empress Wu Zetian and the Sung poetess Li Qingzhao, large numbers of female poets, especially from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) through the beginning of the republican period in China (1911). It was also delightful to find that the criticism of some of these poets, and male counterparts who commented on women's poetry, were translated, many for the first time. As near as I can tell, they have been exhaustive in their attempts to select from a broad range of titles by individual poets and the overall result is that one can no longer credibly present women as minor contributors to the literature of this vast and ancient country.

The text described above is not the earliest attempt, but it is the most complete for a scholarly audience. The earlier anthology addressing female poets of China, edited by Kenneth Rexroth, and it was a thrilling introduction when it first came out in the seventies, but Women Poets of China (first published by Seabury Press as The Orchid Boat, 1972). New York: USA New Directions, 1982, which is still in print, offers both many fewer poets and much less context for their work. While Rexroth and Chung should be applauded for their service to the scholarly community, they serve as only a taste of the wealth to be found in this new 1999 title.

As I am sure is by now clear, this anthology includes all the scholarly framework that make it an excellent addition to any academic library purporting to deal with world literature, and a potential candidate for a course book. In fact, one could present undergraduates with a decent history of Chinese poetry by using it to introduce the periods and types rather than a more traditional anthology.

However, Women Writers of Traditional China is so well organized and readable that it is also appropriate for most public libraries as a solid, readable, general introduction to women in Chinese poetry. The translations are poetically rendered, the periodization gives them context and the bibliography locates the texts in a corpus of Chinese poetry. This book is well worth its price and highly recommended. Cloth, 891 pg., Notes, Bibliography, Index of Names.

Jan Bogstad, Reviewer

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slightly disappointed after a long wait, April 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism (Paperback)

This anthology is the first of its kind in breadth and subject matter, and is a welcome addition to classrooms and bookshelves. However, I am only giving it three stars because the editors chose to parcel out each of these women writers to individuals, ranging from top-notch translators, to graduate students. The result is a mish-mosh of translations, sometimes brilliant, sometimes lackluster, sometimes not even heeding the original form of the poem. Worse still, it has been summarily edited--presumably for the sake of consistency--in such a fashion that there is a certain staleness to the sections. Nonetheless, it is as yet the only book of its kind in English, and therefore a necessary and important addition to the scholarship.