Chinese Mythology: An Introduction - Rilegato

Birrell, Anne

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0801845955 ISBN 13: 9780801845956

Casa editrice: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr, 1993

Riassunto

China, unlike ancient Greece and Rome, had no Homer or Ovid to retell its ancient myths in an eloquent literary record. Viewed with great skepticism by Chinese scholars of the early Chinese empire, myth was preserved orally, and finally converted into the written tradition only in a very fragmentary way. As a consequence, classical Chinese myth has remained largely unavailable to students and scholars of Chinese culture.
In Chinese Mythology, Anne Birrell provides English translations of some 300 representative myth narratives selected from over 100 classical texts, many of which have never before been translated into any Western language. Organizing the narratives according to theme and motif classes common to world mythology, Birrell addresses issues of source, dating, attribution, textual variants, multiforms, and context. Drawing extensively on works in comparative mythology, she surveys the development of Chinese myth studies, largely in the West; summarizes the contribution of Chinese and Japanese scholars to the study of Chinese myth since the 1920s; and looks at special aspects of traditional approaches to Chinese myth. The result is an unprecedented guide to the study of Chinese myth for specialists and nonspecialists alike.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

""The first serious and comprehensive introduction to Chinese mythology aimed at both the specialist and general reader. It is splendidly organized with well-chosen texts, lucid commentary, and useful supplementary matter... Sets new standards in the presentation of Chinese mythology." -- Asian Affairs

L'autore:

Anne M. Birrell, whose previous books include Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China and New Songs from a Jade Terrace, has taught Chinese literature at the City University of New York and the University of Cambridge.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0801845955
• ISBN 13: 9780801845956
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 336