Pacing the Void: T'ang Approaches to the Stars

by Edward H. Schafer

In the author's own words, this work attempts to recreate, for the 20th-century reader, the sky and the apparitions that ornament it as they were conceived, imagined, and reacted to by the men of T'ang-dynasty China-that is, to suggest what the medieval Chinese . . . thought they saw in the night sky, and how they treated those magic lights in their active lives, their private commitments, and their literary fabrications. Inevitably, this enterprise meant the exploration of the borderlands where science, faith, tradition, invention, and fantasy overlap. Armed with the new awareness that this fascinating work provides, we can better understand the great legacy of art and literature of this greatest period of cultural flowering in Chinese history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

An American sinologist and a noted expert on the Tang dynasty. Schafer's most famous works include The Golden Peaches of Samarkand and The Vermilion Bird, which both explore China's interactions with new cultures and regions during the Tang dynasty.

Schafer earned a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1947. He then became a professor of Chinese there and remained at Berkeley until his retirement in 1984. From 1955 to 1968 Schafer served as East Asia Editor of the Journal of the American Oriental Society, and from 1969 to 1984 he held the Agassiz Professorship of Oriental Languages and Literature at Berkeley. He is also known within sinology for his uncompromising belief in the importance of language skills and learning and his differing approach on this subject to John King Fairbank. His publications include over 100 scholarly articles and more than a dozen books.

Also known as 薛爱华

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward Schafer work is some of the most interesting studies of Chinese poetry in the Tang and this volume analyzes the role of astronomy: the stars, sun, moon, and planets in Chinese poetry, particularly of the Tang.

He seems like a polymath, making references to Islamic and Western astronomy. So this book is a bit heavy reading. It is also very heavy with Taoism, which can be very interesting.

Schafer's work can be very interesting for those with a scientific and proto scientific interest.