| Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi Contributor(s): Egan, Ronald C. (Author), Su, Shi (Author) |
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ISBN: 0674955986 ISBN-13: 9780674955981 Publisher: Harvard University Press OUR PRICE: $54.45 Product Type: Hardcover Published: April 1994 Annotation: Remembered today primarily as a poet, calligrapher, and critic, the protean Su Shi was an outspoken player in the contentious politics and intellectual debates of the Northern Song dynasty. In this comprehensive study, Egan analyzes Su's literary and artistic work against the background of eleventh-century developments within Buddhist and Confucian thought and Su's dogged disagreement with the New Policies of Wang Anshi. Egan explicates Su's views on governance, the classics, and Buddhism; and he describes Su's social-welfare initiatives, arrest for disloyalty, and exiles. Finding a key to the richness of Su's artistic activities in his vacillation on the significance of aesthetic pursuits, Egan explores Su's shi and ci poetry and Su's promotion of painting and calligraphy, looking specially at the problem of subjectivity. In a concluding chapter, he reconsiders Su's role as a founder of the wenren ("literati") and challenges the conventional understanding of both Su and the Northern Song wenren generally. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Asian - General |
| Dewey: 895.114 |
| LCCN: 93046196 |
| Series: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph |
| Physical Information: 1.39" H x 5.94" W x 9.34" (1.75 lbs) 380 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Remembered today primarily as a poet, calligrapher, and critic, the protean Su Shi was an outspoken player in the contentious politics and intellectual debates of the Northern Song dynasty. In this comprehensive study, Egan analyzes Su's literary and artistic work against the background of eleventhcentury developments within Buddhist and Confucian thought and Su's dogged disagreement with the New Policies of Wang Anshi. Egan explicates Su's views on governance, the classics, and Buddhism; and he describes Su's social-welfare initiatives, arrest for disloyalty, and exiles. Finding a key to the richness of Su's artistic activities in his vacillation on the significance of aesthetic pursuits, Egan explores Su's shi and ci poetry and Su's promotion of painting and calligraphy, looking specially at the problem of subjectivity. In a concluding chapter, he reconsiders Su's role as a founder of the wenren ("literati") and challenges the conventional understanding of both Su and the Northern Song wenren generally. |
Contributor Bio(s): Egan, Ronald C.: - Ronald C. Egan is Professor of Sinology in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University. |