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Chinese Poetic Writing
Considered the most inovative study of Chinese poetry ever written, François Cheng's Chinese Poetic Writing--now in its first expanded, English-language edition--is an essential read for fans and scholars of Chinese literature and the art of poetry in general.
Since its first publication in French in 1977, Chinese Poetic Writing has been considered by many to be the most innovative study of Chinese poetry ever written, as well as a profound and remarkable meditation on the nature of poetry itself. As the American poet Gustaf Sobin wrote, two years after the book’s appearance, “In France it is already considered a model of interdisciplinary research, a source book, and a ‘star’ in the very space it initially explored, traced, and elaborated.”
Cheng illustrates his text with an annotated anthology of 135 poems he has selected from the Tang dynasty, presented bilingually, and with lively translations by Jerome P. Seaton. It serves as a book within the book, and an excellent introduction to the golden age of Tu Fu, Li Po, Wang Wei, and company.
The 1982 translation, long out of print, was based on the first French edition. Since then, Cheng has greatly expanded the book. This is the first English-language edition of the expanded version, with the original translators returning to accommodate the many new additions and revise their earlier work.
Since its first publication in French in 1977, Chinese Poetic Writing has been considered by many to be the most innovative study of Chinese poetry ever written, as well as a profound and remarkable meditation on the nature of poetry itself. As the American poet Gustaf Sobin wrote, two years after the book’s appearance, “In France it is already considered a model of interdisciplinary research, a source book, and a ‘star’ in the very space it initially explored, traced, and elaborated.”
Cheng illustrates his text with an annotated anthology of 135 poems he has selected from the Tang dynasty, presented bilingually, and with lively translations by Jerome P. Seaton. It serves as a book within the book, and an excellent introduction to the golden age of Tu Fu, Li Po, Wang Wei, and company.
The 1982 translation, long out of print, was based on the first French edition. Since then, Cheng has greatly expanded the book. This is the first English-language edition of the expanded version, with the original translators returning to accommodate the many new additions and revise their earlier work.
340 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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About the author
François Cheng
78 books78 followersFrançois Cheng is a French academician, writer, poet and calligrapher. He is the author of essays, novels, collections of poetry and books on art written in the French language, and the translator of some of the great French poets into Chinese.
Born in China and taking French citizenship in 1973, he was elected to the Académie française in 2002, and was the first person of Asian origin to be a member of the Academy. He was the winner of the 1998 Prix Femina for Le Dit de Tianyi ("The saying of Tianyi")
When Cheng arrived in France in 1948, on a study grant, he did not speak a word of the language. He subsequently adapted quickly and profoundly. In his speech to the Académie française, he explained, "I became a Frenchman in law, mind and heart more than thirty years ago [...] especially from that moment when I resolutely went over to the French language, making it the weapon, or the soul, of my creative work. This language, how can I say everything that I owe to it? It is so intimately bound up with the way I live and my inner life that it has proved to be the emblem of my destiny." It took many years before he became a novelist. His first works were on Chinese poetry and painting. Later he began to write works of poetry himself, before finally turning to the writing of novels.
Born in China and taking French citizenship in 1973, he was elected to the Académie française in 2002, and was the first person of Asian origin to be a member of the Academy. He was the winner of the 1998 Prix Femina for Le Dit de Tianyi ("The saying of Tianyi")
When Cheng arrived in France in 1948, on a study grant, he did not speak a word of the language. He subsequently adapted quickly and profoundly. In his speech to the Académie française, he explained, "I became a Frenchman in law, mind and heart more than thirty years ago [...] especially from that moment when I resolutely went over to the French language, making it the weapon, or the soul, of my creative work. This language, how can I say everything that I owe to it? It is so intimately bound up with the way I live and my inner life that it has proved to be the emblem of my destiny." It took many years before he became a novelist. His first works were on Chinese poetry and painting. Later he began to write works of poetry himself, before finally turning to the writing of novels.
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October 2, 2022Francois Cheng is a French-based academician and Sinologist. He was born in Jiangxi in 1929, and travelled to France in 1948 on a study grant at the age of nineteen. He has translated French poets into Chinese across his lifetime -- but one of his earliest publications was on the features of Chinese classical poetic writing.
Cheng was influenced by Barthes and the field of semiotics. His book looks closely at metaphor, metonymy, and syntax structures of Tang poetry and ancient poetry including the Shi Jing/Chu Ci texts. He proposes that Chinese poetry is influenced by philosophical structures of meaning -- the duality between empty (Void) and full language, the duality of Yin-Yang, and the trinity of Heaven, Earth and Man.
While I found the book interesting in its identification of certain poetic techniques and the leashing of images to speak on implied themes, the writing is deeply academic. Further to that, the translations provided in this book are overtly literal. While this allows for rigorous literary analysis, the translations are clunky. Reading the translation notes by Jerome Seaton, it appears the English version hews as close as possible to Cheng's French. Unless you are interested in semiotics or Chinese classical poetry and are willing to dig through the awkward language, it may be better to pass on this book.
Cheng was influenced by Barthes and the field of semiotics. His book looks closely at metaphor, metonymy, and syntax structures of Tang poetry and ancient poetry including the Shi Jing/Chu Ci texts. He proposes that Chinese poetry is influenced by philosophical structures of meaning -- the duality between empty (Void) and full language, the duality of Yin-Yang, and the trinity of Heaven, Earth and Man.
While I found the book interesting in its identification of certain poetic techniques and the leashing of images to speak on implied themes, the writing is deeply academic. Further to that, the translations provided in this book are overtly literal. While this allows for rigorous literary analysis, the translations are clunky. Reading the translation notes by Jerome Seaton, it appears the English version hews as close as possible to Cheng's French. Unless you are interested in semiotics or Chinese classical poetry and are willing to dig through the awkward language, it may be better to pass on this book.
January 13, 2018
Dans ce nouvel essai, François Cheng nous initie à la poésie chinoise ancienne. Au-delà de la simple musicalité, il analyse pour nous le jeu graphique des idéogrammes, toute la spiritualité qui se trouve dans cette poésie et qui la relie aux arts de la calligraphie, de la musique, de la peinture et qui continue à nous fasciner plus de mille ans plus tard !
Il entreprend de nous faire entrer dans ce monde de métaphores et de codes, reposant sur la cosmologie chinoise, au travers d’une analyse sémiotique riche en images, à l’instar de son sujet. Sa réflexion est illustrée de nombreux poèmes classiques, ou d’extraits de ceux-ci, qui sont ensuite rassemblés dans une anthologie, réunis par courant poétique, où l’on peut comparer les poèmes dans leurs versions originales avec les traductions des concepts puis, parfois, avec une traduction littéraire.
Il entreprend de nous faire entrer dans ce monde de métaphores et de codes, reposant sur la cosmologie chinoise, au travers d’une analyse sémiotique riche en images, à l’instar de son sujet. Sa réflexion est illustrée de nombreux poèmes classiques, ou d’extraits de ceux-ci, qui sont ensuite rassemblés dans une anthologie, réunis par courant poétique, où l’on peut comparer les poèmes dans leurs versions originales avec les traductions des concepts puis, parfois, avec une traduction littéraire.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews