An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911

by Stephen Owen (Translator)

Hailed as a groundbreaking text in Chinese Studies, An Anthology of Chinese Literature brings together representative works from the first millenium B.C. to the end of the imperial system in 1911.

This collection of over 600 pieces, translated with great clarity and sense of the original, presents the tradition in historical and aesthetic context. Moving roughly chronologically through the tradition, An Anthology of Chinese Literature gathers texts in a variety of genres songs, letters, anecdotes, poetry, political oratory, plays, traditional literary theory, and more to show how the essential texts build on and echo each other. Coupled with highly readable commentary, this innovative structure uniquely highlights the interplay among Chinese literature, culture, and history.

Genres: Poetry, China, Fiction, Classics, Anthologies, Literature, Chinese Literature

1264 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

Stephen Owen is a sinologist specializing in premodern literature, lyric poetry, and comparative poetics. Much of his work has focused on the middle period of Chinese literature (200-1200), however, he has also written on literature of the early period and the Qing. Owen has written or edited dozens of books, articles, and anthologies in the field of Chinese literature, especially Chinese poetry, including An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (Norton, 1996); The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry (Harvard Asia Center, 2006); and The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827-860) (Harvard Asia Center, 2006). Owen has completed the translation of the complete poetry of Du Fu, which was published as the inaugural volumes of the Library of Chinese Humanities series, featuring Chinese literature in translation. Owen earned a B.A. (1968) and a Ph.D. (1972) in Chinese Language from Yale University. He taught there from 1972 to 1982, before coming to Harvard. In acknowledgment of his groundbreaking work that crosses the boundaries of multiple disciplines, Owen was awarded the James Bryant Conant University Professorship in 1997. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, held a Guggenheim Fellowship, and received a Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award (2006) among many other awards and honors.

Reviews

[emory · Rating 4 out of 5]

no big thoughts many words

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of excerpts read for class, very detailed compilation of many seminal texts of Chinese literature. Really impressive work of translation and notations, but would recommend reading anything in this w/ guidance of scholar of Chinese, ancient/imperial China, etc

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The translations and Owen's notes are all tremendously valuable for those without mastery of Chinese, or without an in-depth knowledge of classical Chinese works.

[Bad Booker · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has extensive chinese classical poems, but unfortunately, it misses something very important, - the original chinese texts of the poems! Even the poems' titles are in english, so how can we know the quality of the translations if we don't know the original poems' titles? We don't even know which one the poem it is. We read the book and we are pretty much "forced" to accept it as it is.

[Andrew Fehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to ancient China. While I take issue with some of Owen’s translations, the collection remains comprehensive and remarkably versatile. It captures an impressive range of literary forms and voices, tracing China’s transformative journey across eras, from harmony to mortality to unification.

[Kden0.0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is no longer in circulation but get a pdf if you have to. This book is a must for anyone doing Chinese studies. It contains basically every major work of poetry that you could find and they’re all translated.

[Yitao Yu · Rating 3 out of 5]

translation