Chinese Literary Traditions:
Elite and Popular
Ronald Egan
Wednesday, August 1, 12
“Elite” in the term “elite literature” refers not only to the
gentry class (scholar-officials, Mandarins, etc.) that produced
and consumed this literature, but also to the language in
which it was written: Classical (or Literary) Chinese. Not
the spoken language.
genres and fields: poetry, history, philosophy, belles lettres,
literary essays, etc.
Wednesday, August 1, 12
we look now at 4 poems, all from the 8th century (Tang dynasty).
The first 2 are short, lyrical poems. The second 2 are somewhat
longer, narrative poems.
Wednesday, August 1, 12
Wang Wei (8th c.), Untitled
You just came from my old village
so you know all about village affairs.
When you left, outside my window,
was it in bloom--that winter plum?
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Li Bo (8th c.), “On Yellow Crane Tower, Farewell to Meng Hao-jan,
Who’s Leaving for Yang-chou”
From Yellow Crane Tower, my old friend leaves the west.
downstream to Yang-chou, late spring a haze of blossoms.
distant glints of lone sail vanish into emerald-green air:
nothing left but a river flowing on the borders of heaven.
Wednesday, August 1, 12
Du Fu (8th c.), “The Conscript Officer at Stone Moat” (trans. Burton Watson)
At evening I put up at Stone Moat Village
that night an officer came to round up conscripts.
The old man of the inn scaled the wall to hide.
the old woman came to open the gate.
The officer, how fiercely he shouted!
The old woman, how pitiful her cries!
Then I heard her say to him,
“My three sons were sent to defend Yecheng,
A letter came from one of them,
the other two were lost in the fighting.
One alive, no more than a borrowed life
the dead ones gone for all time!
Wednesday, August 1, 12
Here in the house not another soul,
only a grandchild, still nursing at the breast.
His mother stays to look after him,
indoors or out, barely a skirt to cover her.
I’m an old woman, little strength left,
but let me go with you tonight.
If you’re pressed for hands at Heyang
at least I could help cook the morning rations.”
Late that night no more sound of people talking,
but I thought I heard weeping and muffled sobs.
At dawn when I set out once more,
there was only the old man to see me off.
Wednesday, August 1, 12
Li Bo, “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” (trans. Ezra Pound)
While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan,
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.
At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?
At sixteen you departed
You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.
Wednesday, August 1, 12
You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me. I grow older.
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please le me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-fu-Sa.
Wednesday, August 1, 12
(Note: Kenneth Rexroth called this translation of the poem by Ezra Pound
“one of the dozen or so major poems to be written in American in the
twentieth century.”)
Wednesday, August 1, 12
Li Bo (8th c.), “On Yellow Crane Tower, Farewell to Meng Hao-jan,
Who’s Leaving for Yang-chou”
From Yellow Crane Tower, my old friend leaves the west.
downstream to Yang-chou, late spring a haze of blossoms.
distant glints of lone sail vanish into emerald-green air:
nothing left but a river flowing on the borders of heaven
Wednesday, August 1, 12
故人西辭黃鶴樓 煙花三月下揚州 孤帆遠影碧山盡
唯見長江天際流
suggested selections of Chinese poetry:
Burton Watson, Selected Poems of Du Fu (Columbia Univ. Press)
David Hinton, Classical Chinese Poetry (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)
David Hinton, The Mountain Poems of Meng Hao-jan (available on Kindle)
Stephen Owen, Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (Norton)
Wednesday, August 1, 12
discussion questions
1. how feasible is it to work Chinese poetry into introductory courses or
course units in Chinese civilization?
2. what are the advantages of doing so?
a. it is a primary source like no other
b. its centrality in Chinese culture
3. the disadvantages?
Wednesday, August 1, 12
Turning now to “popular” literature, or literature written in the
vernacular language:
drama, novels, short stories
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The five “classic” novels (dating from the 15th to 18th centuries):
The Water Margin, also known as All Men Are Brothers
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
*Monkey (trans. Arthur Waley, 1 volume), also known as Journey to the West
(trans. Anthony Yu, 4 volumes)
The Plum in the Golden Vase (trans. David Roy, 5 volumes)
*The Story of the Stone (trans. David Hawkes, 5 volumes), also known as
The Dream of the Red Chamber
Wednesday, August 1, 12
for synopses and criticial introductions, see:
C. T. Hsia, The Classic Chinese Novel (Columbia University Press), where
Story of the Stone is referred to as Dream of the Red Chamber.
Anthony Yu, “Introduction,” The Journey to the West, vol. 1.
David Hawkes, “Introduction,” The Story of the Stone, vol. 1.
Wednesday, August 1, 12
Monkey, main characters:
Monkey
Pigsy
Sandy
Tripitaka (the Buddhist monk, Xuanzang)
White Horse
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Wednesday, August 1, 12
Wednesday, August 1, 12
The five “classic” novels (dating from the 15th to 18th centuries):
The Water Margin, also known as All Men Are Brothers
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
*Monkey (trans. Arthur Waley, 1 volume), also known as Journey to the West
(trans. Anthony Yu, 4 volumes)
The Plum in the Golden Vase (trans. David Roy, 5 volumes)
*The Story of the Stone (trans. David Hawkes, 5 volumes), also known as
The Dream of the Red Chamber
Wednesday, August 1, 12
selections,
ch. 3, Dai-yu (and the reader) meets Bao-yu for the first time
ch. 77, Bao-yu sneaks off to visit the dying Skybright
Wednesday, August 1, 12
discussion questions:
feasibility of working novels into course units on China
advantages of doing so
disadvantages
Wednesday, August 1, 12