- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Shambhala Publications Inc; 1 edition (1 Sep 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 157062092X
- ISBN-13: 978-1570620928
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 0.6 x 21.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,029,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #29 in Books > Fiction > Poetry & Drama > Poetry > World > Chinese
- #84 in Books > History > Religious History > Taoism
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Product Description
Product Description
The ancient Chinese regarded the written word as a transformative force able to move heaven and earth and unite the reader with the source of all things, the Tao. The power of writing, especially poetry, is celebrated here in short texts that present both practical instruction and spiritual insight:
• Lu Ji's essay in verse, "The Art of Writing," reveals the inner process every writer must go through in preparing for the creative act.
• Sikong Tu's "Twenty-four Styles of Poetry" teaches that poets must perfect themselves internally in order to achieve perfection in what they write.
• "Poets' Jade Splinters" contains aphoristic prescriptions and humorous anecdotes about poetry, poets, and the rules of composition.
Assorted commentaries and critical evaluations focus on Chinese lyrical poetry.
• Lu Ji's essay in verse, "The Art of Writing," reveals the inner process every writer must go through in preparing for the creative act.
• Sikong Tu's "Twenty-four Styles of Poetry" teaches that poets must perfect themselves internally in order to achieve perfection in what they write.
• "Poets' Jade Splinters" contains aphoristic prescriptions and humorous anecdotes about poetry, poets, and the rules of composition.
Assorted commentaries and critical evaluations focus on Chinese lyrical poetry.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Art Of Writing in Old China.,
By
This review is from: The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters (Paperback)
The frontispiece of this book is a picture entitled 'Purification at the Orchid Pavilion' that dates to the Early Qing Dynasty. It depicts scholarly-sages sharing their written work, possibly poems and philosophy. This book is a collection of Chinese poetry, stories and aphorisms dating from the end of the Three Kingdoms Period (184-280), to the latter Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The book has five main parts:
1). Preface - The Many Faces of Writing. 2). The Art of Writing - Lu Ji. 3). The Twenty-four Styles of Poetry - Sikong Tu. 5). Poets' Jade Splinters - Edited by Wei Qingzhi. 5). Stories and Aphorisms about literature. The various original Chinese texts are translated by the authors Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping. Barnstone is a poet, academic and author, and Chou is a poet and translator whose work has appeared in the Literary Review, Nimrod, and the Chicago Review. The presented writings are a collection of Taoist and Confucian texts. The Taoist inspired material is directed toward nature, the internal and the humourous. The Confucian poetry, by and large is inspired by the imperial examination system of ancient China which continued into the early 20th century. This system required all candidates to learn the Book of Poetry (Shijing), and be able to quote any part with exactude when required to do so. This familiarity with poetry created the ability to compose fresh and new poems in the unmistaken style of the ancient tradition. It should also be noted that many Taoist practitioners were themselves Confucian scholars, or had trained and even taken the imperial examination. The ancient Chinese system is underpinned by the idea that correct and wise words can bring order to the physical world. Indeed, Lu Ji - featured in the book, writes that: 'Writing is joy - so saints and scholars all pursue it. A writer makes new life in the void, knocks on silence to make a sound, binds space and time on a sheet of silk and pours out a river from an inch-sized heart.' This is a very accessible book about the ancient Chinese poetry and literature tradition. In many ways this represents the indigenous tradition of China and explains the lack of Buddhist input throughout. This is understandable for reasons of clarity, but unfortunate as such great poetry as that of Han Shan and Shih Te is not included. This is an important book however, and one that is highly recommended for scholars of Chinese subjects.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book of Aphorisms about Writing!,
By Mr. Book - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters (Paperback)
I guess that other reviewer didn't bother to read the title of the book before he bought it. So you buy a book that says it's about what Chinese writers have to say about poetry and are disappointed that it's not a manual on how to write poetry in English? There are plenty of those out there. This book is unusual and fascinating, a luminous collection of Chinese wisdom about the art of the poem. In fact, I think it would be very helpfult to someone who writes poetry and wants to know what the great Chinese poets value in literature and esthetics. It's funny, witty, charming, and like nothing else out there. A fantastic book.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'd use it as an example...,
By qubit - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters (Paperback)
Would I use this book in a poetry workshop to guide people on how to learn to write a list poem, for instance? NO! I would use it as an example to show as to what the Chinese masters thought of writing and how they approached the writing process.
Was the first reviewer on crack when he wrote the review? 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and complicated,
By Alison M. Gunn "The Collaborative Writer" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters (Paperback)
I used this book to write my dissertation on why people feel uncomfortable thinking of themselves as writers. Western writers can access this book most easily because we are used to terminology used in the poems here, which refer to writer's block, revision, inspiration, and other subjects. In other words, rather than be told what to think, each of the inspirational poems illustrate the principle of the idea, a Taoist approach to writing. You are being guided, rather than pushed, in other words. Unfortunately for the earliest reviewer, upon whom this lovely book was wasted, apparently, this requires critical thinking skills and an understanding of subtlety. To understand how to write, or how to write a poem, for that matter, you are being shown poems. Then you sit with them, meditate upon them, and find that, instead of being taught in the style you're accustomed to, which is based on agonistic beliefs of how writing 'ought' to be taught, instead you discover your writing. Also, it has to be said, it's not hard to find a "how-to guide" in this book; the section called "The Twenty Four Styles of Poetry" is very clear: it shows you 24 poems. You read them. You think about them. You realise that each poem illustrates itself ("The Classical and Elegant Style" uses the line "like a chrysanthemum I desire nothing," a classical expression indicating elegance in Asian poetry). This is the essence of poetry, isn't it? To reify itself within the lines of the poem? Think of Chinese poetry almost like a calligram, and I think you'll start to realise why this slim volume is so effective. The section on "Jade Splinters" is truly where the new paradigm about thinking about writing began for me, because the Chinese compared to writing as creating "jade splinters," which meant that their writings were attempts, only "splinters" left as they carved a gem. Don't you like that metaphor for writing, that writing is a process of carving a gemstone, than that writing is a struggle (the metaphor we've learned from the Greeks)? I know I do.
For more information about writing, please take a look at [...], wherein I pontificate further about the subject of writing. :-) |
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