An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911

Moving roughly chronologically, An Anthology of Chinese Literature gathers texts according to genres, themes, forms, and other groupings to show the way essential texts build off one another and how the tradition echoes itself. Including a range of forms - songs, letters, anecdotes, stories, plays, political oratory, traditional literary theory, and more - the anthology's innovative structure breaks new ground by providing a previously unavailable view of the interplay between Chinese literature, culture, and history to alert non-Chinese readers to what premodern Chinese readers would have noticed instinctively. Helpful apparatus, including a general introduction describing the evolution of Chinese literature, a note on translation, period introductions, a timeline, and interpretive commentary, make the tradition accessible not only to the student of Chinese literature but also to the general reader.