Paul W. Kroll

In the Halls of the Azure lad

Only recently have students of medieval China begun to pay serious attention to the lore and language of the Taoist scriptures of that era. These works were, however, of immense influence in conditioning the imagery and vocabulary of many medieval writers, especially poets. Of particular interest are the vivid and well-defined descriptions one often encounters in such religious texts of the various paradise realms of the Taoist divinities. This paper presents one of the most important of these blessed zones and its resident lord.

Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan

During the early decades of this century a handful of intrepid foreign explorers raced to plunder treasures from the lost cities of the Silk Road, the great highway that once linked China and Rome. Among the more successful of the adventurers was the German archaeologist Albert von Le Coq, and this is his account of the prizes, pitfalls, and perils that he encountered on his journey.

On familiar terms : a journey across cultures

This is the intimate and inspiring story of one of the truly great cosmopolitans of our time. During an exceptional career spanning five decades, Donald Keene has brought the works of Japans greatest writers to worldwide attention through his highly acclaimed writings, translations, and anthologies. On Familiar Terms is the deeply personal story of his remarkable life - from a Depression-era childhood through his wartime experiences as a naval intelligence officer in the Pacific, his early enchantment with the now-vanished world of old Kyoto, and the diverse and lasting friendships he made in New York, Japan, and England. In this poignant and engaging portrait of intellectual, spiritual, and personal growth, Donald Keene recalls his lifelong journey, including fascinating relationships with and illuminating anecdotes about such writers as Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata, Kenzaburo Oe, and Kobo Abe. This is a story of universal interest, of self-discovery among shifting cultural boundaries, and the making of a committed internationalist against the backdrop of a complex and restless world.

Reflections on recent anthologies of Chinese literature in translation

It was not very long ago that teachers of undergraduate survey courses on Chinese (or any other) literature in translation contentedly compiled their own, individually edited, course readers, with no dread of copyright infringements. We cut and pasted blithely, creating as many different readers-out of the whole range of previous publications and personal manuscripts-as there were such courses in America. It was, by and large, an effective approach, for materials could be chosen to reflect quite accurately and narrowly the particular focus of each course; and it was also helpful in preserving an awareness of many important contributions to the field that might have gone unnoticed by beginners, for we could reprint articles from specialist journals

Recalling Xuanzong and Lady Yang: A Selection of Mid- and Late Tang Poems

The romance of the Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–756) and his Precious Consort Yang is the most famous, and tragic, of imperial liaisons in Chinese history. Following Lady Yang’s death and the emperor’s abdication, the story very quickly became a topic for retelling in both prose and verse. Bo Juyi’s “Song of Lasting Regret” from 806 has become the most famous of these accounts, but it was not seen in its time as the best or only version of the story. There are scores of other poems, short and long, on the subject from Tang poets both before and after Bo Juyi. Most of these center on the emperor’s winter retreat at Mount Li and its seductive hot springs, while some focus on the Mawei post-station where Lady Yang met her death. A selection of these poems, mostly by lesser-known writers, is offered here.

ZHANG JIULING AND THE LYCHEE

Abstract Preface. When asked to contribute a piece in honor of Elling Eide’s scholarship to this journal whose publication he so generously supported for many years, I thought first of offering something on Li Bo 李白, the Tang poet most admired by both of us, about whom we have both written, and whom we also discussed often with each other at length. But that would be predictable, and Elling was anything but predictable. My thoughts turned instead to his appreciation of rare plants, especially subtropical fruit. Combined with Elling’s fondness for the court of Xuanzong and his lifelong dedication to the practice of translation, the specific choice of topic was then obvious.

HUILIN ON BLACK AND WHITE, JIANG YAN ON WUWEI: TWO BUDDHIST DIALOGUES FROM THE LIU-SONG DYNASTY

Abstract The genre of the lun (discourse) in early medieval Buddhism most often pertains to scriptural commentary or to interpretation of doctrine. But it can also accommodate other approaches to Buddhist topics, including those that more heavily emphasize literary flair. This article focuses on two essays in dialogue form that illustrate how far the genre can be stretched. These works are from early and late in the Liu-Song dynasty, by a monk and by a scholar-official, are from a large-scale and from a very personal perspective, are aimed at different audiences and were differently received. Attention is given here to the political and religious background of the two texts as well as to their literary qualities.

Words Well Put: Visions of Poetic Competence in the Chinese Tradition (review)

At three words, or two or one (depending on your definition of “definition”), the canonical Chinese gloss on poetry—shi yan zhi 詩言志—is perhaps the briefest and cleanest on record. That the key word is a pun adds to its sharpness. However, this is just one way to define poetry.1 There are many other ways, more or less valid, more or less precise, to say what poetry is, whence it comes, and what it does. There may even be, as Wallace Stevens said, a poem within every poem. But whatever else it is or may be, poetry is a shared activity. The Muse sings, but not to herself. Like a tree falling in a Berkeleian forest, a poem to be made real must be read, recited, heard—or overheard (ad J. S. Mill)— by someone, sometime. Acknowledgement of poetry’s affective quality, both moral and emotional, is deeply rooted in China’s traditional culture. This requires understanding, assimilation, and manipulation of the classical language. Mastery would be demonstrated in various ways. But throughout at least the manuscript or pre-print era, up to the tenth or eleventh century (and arguably beyond, though certain emphases changed in the early modern period), such control was incomplete unless one had the ability personally to refashion or add to the tradition in one’s own words, especially in verse. Knowledge should rightly be supplemented by competence. In the book at hand Graham Sanders studies “poetic competence,” which he describes as “the ability of a person to deploy poetic discourse as a means of affecting the attitude and behavior of another