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Shih-shuo hsin-yü = A new account of tales of the world by Liu, Xiaobiao; Liu, Yiqing; Mather, Richard B. is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Shih-shuo hsin-yü = A new account of tales of the world about?

Shih-shuo hsin-yü: A New Account of Tales of the World, compiled by Liu I-ch'ing (403–444), is a collection of anecdotes, short conversations, and pithy observations on personalities who lived in China between about 150 and 420 A.D. In its own time, the text was considered to be an aid to conversation, and one of its aims was to provide enjoyable reading. For this reason, it has been loosely linked with the later “novels” (hsiao-shuo) such as “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” (San-kuo yen-i). Shih-shuo hsin- yü is organized thematically, with sections devoted to civic and moral virtues, cultivated and intellectual accomplishments, recluses, women, technology, art, and human frailty. Yet the view onto these subjects remains narrow: center stage is occupied by emperors and princes, courtiers, officials, generals, genteel hermits, and urbane monks. These figures are depicted in a rarified atmosphere of great refinement and sensitivity, yet they are usually caught up in a very earthly, often bloody, world of war and factional intrigue. It is a dark world against which the occasional flashes of wit and insight shine the more brightly. Mather's classic translation was the first English tra

Who reads Shih-shuo hsin-yü = A new account of tales of the world?

Author

Liu, Xiaobiao; Liu, Yiqing; Mather, Richard B.

Publisher

U OF M CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES

Published

2017

Language

EN

ISBN

9780892641550

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

Science, Social Science, History