Trama e riassunto di Storia della letteratura cinese

A chi è rivolto

Readers who enjoy poetry, anecdotes, and vivid portraits of scholars, rebels, and emperors will love this history. It suits anyone who likes an opinionated, witty guide.

Che cos’è questo libro

What would you do if rivals drove you from office and the whole world seemed drunk while you stayed sober? The poet Ch'ü Yüan walks to a river, takes a stone in his arms, and steps into the water. His people still remember him each year with dragon boats and offerings of rice.

A History of Chinese Literature was written by Herbert Allen Giles, a British scholar who taught Chinese at Cambridge. It is the first survey of this whole history, since Chinese critics wrote endless notes on single works but never a survey. Giles lets the authors speak through his own translations.

Questions about Storia della letteratura cinese

What is A History of Chinese Literature about?

It surveys Chinese writing from the sixth century B.C. to the nineteenth century, period by period. Giles covers the classics, Confucius, the Taoists, poets, historians, plays, and novels, with many passages in his own translation.

Who was Herbert Allen Giles?

Giles was a British scholar who served in China and later taught Chinese at Cambridge. He died in 1935. He wrote this survey, a dictionary, and translations of works such as Chuang Tzu and Strange Stories.

Is it hard to read for someone new to China?

Giles writes in a lively, conversational voice and explains each name as it appears. Short extracts, anecdotes, and jokes keep the pace light, so a newcomer can follow the story from one age to the next.

What are the Four Books and the Five Classics?

They are the core texts of Confucian learning. The Five Classics are the Books of History, Odes, Changes, and Rites, and the Spring and Autumn Annals. The Four Books are the Analects, Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean.

Is the book worth reading today?

Yes, as a guide to what Chinese readers have loved for centuries. It introduces key writers, shows how poems and stories have been used, and offers Giles's lively judgments, which you can accept or question.