Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2018 -

Those who are patient, love books, and already know something about China will find this collection a rare treat that will bring discovery and delight. Wang (Harvard) has brought together 161 brief essays written by 143 of the best scholars and writers of Chinese literature in the world. The collection provides a detailed road map of literary modern China, with highways (major writers, events) but more importantly a complex network of alternative routes and secondary roads (less-known works, events). Joining A New History of French Literature, ed. by Denis Hollier (CH, Mar'90, 27-3768), A New History of German Literature, ed. by David Wellbery with Judith Ryan et al. (CH, Jul'05, 42-6370), and A New Literary History of America, ed. by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors (CH, May'10, 47-4890), the present volume should be seen as a rebirth of modern Chinese literature as world literature in an American context. By singling out Hu Shi, Lin Yutang, Shen Congwen, and Eileen Chang in "A Timeline of Literary History of Modern China" (on the very first page), the book shows itself to be an American version of the history of modern China. In this sense, it should also be a great read for scholars of comparative literature and world literature.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

Lee's anthology offers a broad and deep introduction to the richness of traditional Korean literature. It includes sections of poetry (both in Korean and in literary Chinese), prose fiction and nonfiction, oral literature, and drama. The subdivisions of each genre are introduced by informative and engaging mini-essays that provide cultural and historical context. Lee's introductory essay is brief but will be welcomed by those not fully conversant with the sweep of Korean literary history: it situates the book's contents within the shifting circumstances of Korea's historical relationship with Chinese literature and shows how Korean literati responded to the cultural expectations that had developed under the influence of Chinese literature. The selection of texts ranges widely in terms of subject matter as well as genre: readers are especially well served by sections covering the vernacular sijo and poetry in literary Chinese and by the examples of Korean drama. The book includes footnotes, an extensive bibliography, and brief biographical notes on the writers. This volume will be required for courses on Korean literary history and invaluable for students of Korean culture in general.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

Twenty-seven distinguished contributors from five countries produced this creatively designed, engagingly written, impeccably edited resource. It examines Chinese literature, as broadly defined, from the earliest times around 1000 BCE to the twilight of the Tang dynasty (618-907). Section 1 (the introduction) probes the conceptualization of Chinese literature and summarizes its periodization. Section 2, "Basics of Literacy," begins with the logographic writing system, orality, literary media such as paper scrolls and printed books, and how calligraphy and painting relate to literature. It concludes with education, the civil service exam system, textual commentaries, encyclopedias, libraries, and book catalogs. Section 3, "Literary Production," discusses the four main traditional genres, modern perspectives on genre, anthologization, textual transmission, poetics, authorship, and classicism. Section 4, "Moments, Sites, Figures," explores key literary motifs, and section 5, "Early and Medieval China and the World," describes how the East Asian Sinographic sphere included Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. This excellent, innovative volume complements more traditional reference works, e.g., The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. by William H. Nienhauser (2v, CH, Jul'86; CH, Apr'99, 36-4329). The book's back matter consists of bibliographic references and a 30-page index; Chinese characters are conveniently interspersed within the chapters themselves, obviating the need for a glossary.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.