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Selected Proses of Tang and Song Dynasties: Gems of Chinese Literature by Xiu Ouyang, Yu Han, Shi Su
naverhtrad's review against another edition
5.0
A selection of prose essays and memorials from some of the great masters of the art: Wang Anshi, Han Yu, Su Shi, Liu Zongyuan and Ouyang Xiu, most prominently. The masters of prose keep their works short but simple. The vast bulk of them are non-fictional, describing a beloved place or spot in nature, praising a friend, eulogising a dead relative or writing a refutation of a rival. Others of them - particularly those by Liu Zongyuan - are fables: fictional stories with a didactic or moralistic purpose.
These English translations keep the language clear, crisp and accessible without losing any of the meaning in the originals (which were, of course, written in wenyanwen). The translation of Han Yu's song about Meander Vale (as they translate Pan Valley) gives him almost a whimsical, Tolkien-esque flair: it messes up the metre terribly, but it gets across the playful and repetitive nature of the rhymes. My only real complaint is that the editing is a bit sloppy; some words are misspelt and in one case it reads as if the editor left out an entire page of text.
I'd still recommend reading them in the original if possible (they're available online, and the book helpfully categorises them by author and by the Chinese title of the essay), but these translations provide a decent and enjoyable companion-piece.
These English translations keep the language clear, crisp and accessible without losing any of the meaning in the originals (which were, of course, written in wenyanwen). The translation of Han Yu's song about Meander Vale (as they translate Pan Valley) gives him almost a whimsical, Tolkien-esque flair: it messes up the metre terribly, but it gets across the playful and repetitive nature of the rhymes. My only real complaint is that the editing is a bit sloppy; some words are misspelt and in one case it reads as if the editor left out an entire page of text.
I'd still recommend reading them in the original if possible (they're available online, and the book helpfully categorises them by author and by the Chinese title of the essay), but these translations provide a decent and enjoyable companion-piece.
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