Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and

Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism

This anthology of Chinese womenâ€™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 womenâ€™s poetry, one must take into account not only the poems but also the prose writingsâ€•prefaces, biographies, theoretical tractsâ€•that framed them and attempted to shape womenâ€™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 menâ€™s affairs. Each woman had her own reasons for poetry and her own ways of appropriating, and often changing, the conventions of both menâ€™s and womenâ€™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 womenâ€™s writing in the West, thus complementing current discussions of â€œfeminine writing.â€
Country USA
Brand Stanford University Press
Manufacturer Stanford University Press
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9780804732314
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780804732314
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	Stanford University Press
Manufacturer	Stanford University Press
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	9780804732314
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780804732314
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism

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