Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Twenty-Nine Goodbyes: An Introduction to Chinese Poetry

Twenty-Nine Goodbyes: An Introduction to Chinese Poetry

Billings, Timothy

Hardcover

Literary CriticismWriting InstructionGeneral Poetry

Publisher Price: $26.95

ISBN10: 1531508359
ISBN13: 9781531508357
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Published: Dec 3 2024
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.90 Width: 5.10 Depth: 8.10
Language: English

CHOICE: OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE

A primer for those with no previous knowledge of Chinese, this book introduces readers to the fundamentals of classical Chinese poetry through twenty-nine ways of understanding a single poem. Seeing Off a Friend, by the great Tang poet Li Bai (701-762) has long been praised for its vividness, subtlety, and poignancy. Anthologizing twenty-nine translations of the poem, Timothy Billings not only introduces the poem's richness and depth but also the nuanced art of translating Chinese poetry into European languages.

A famous exemplar of seeing off poetry, which was common in an empire whose literati were continually on the move, Li's poem has continued to fascinate readers far removed from its moment of composition, from the Victorians, to Ezra Pound, to contemporary translators from around the world. In talking us through these linguistic crossings, Billings unpacks the intricacies of the lüshi or regulated verse poem, a form as pivotal to Chinese literature as the sonnet is to European tradition.

This book promises to transform its readers, step-by-step, into adept interpreters of one of the most significant verse forms in Chinese literary history. Billings's engaging teaching style, backed by a lightly worn but deep scholarly engagement with Chinese poetry, makes this work an indispensable guide for anyone interested in poetry, translation, or the cultural heritage of China.

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