- Paperback: 340 pages
- Publisher: Quercus (8 Jan 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1847243436
- ISBN-13: 978-1847243430
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 3.6 cm
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
512,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #43 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > 1500-1900
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
I have read Jonathan Spence's many previous books … but Return to Dragon Mountain is his masterpiece to date … Zhang Dai, an important historian of the Late Ming Dynasty, China's Golden Age, is so rendered by Return to Dragon Mountain that I am reminded of the narrator in Marcel Proust and also of Joseph Conrad's heroic but darkly fated heroes - Harold Bloom
His writing is authoritative, subtle, never over-complicated, and shows a rare elegance of phrase…. Immediacy, a rare commodity in Chinese history-writing, is what this book achieves, and it is indeed a joy - Literary Review
His writing is authoritative, subtle, never over-complicated, and shows a rare elegance of phrase…. Immediacy, a rare commodity in Chinese history-writing, is what this book achieves, and it is indeed a joy - Literary Review
Review
I have read Jonathan Spence's many previous books but Return to Dragon Mountain is his masterpiece to date Zhang Dai, an important historian of the Late Ming Dynasty, China's Golden Age, is so rendered by Return to Dragon Mountain that I am reminded of the narrator in Marcel Proust and also of Joseph Conrad's heroic but darkly fated heroes - Harold Bloom His writing is authoritative, subtle, never over-complicated, and shows a rare elegance of phrase . Immediacy, a rare commodity in Chinese history-writing, is what this book achieves, and it is indeed a joy - Literary Review
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First Sentence
Zhang Dai lived a parade when the moon came out and the lanterns shone. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Zhang Dai lived a parade when the moon came out and the lanterns shone. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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9 reviews
42 of 45 people found the following review helpful
persistence
30 Sep 2007
Format:Hardcover
Zhang Dai, the figure at the center of Jonathan Spence's latest book sits at the margins of his milieu and observes and comments upon family members, bureaucrats, art traders, poets and emperors. A member of the Ming elite, Zhang Dai inherits the fortune to come into his own just as the world that has given him his livelihood collapses. Spence chronicles the life of Zhang Dai and his period up to the collapse of the Ming dynasty in 1644. At that point Zhang Dai goes into hiding in different monasteries and his day to day traces disappear. His writings, however, remain. For the next thirty years Zhang Dai continues to write a history of the Ming dynasty as well as biographies and popular reminiscences. Spence's biography of successes, failures, family and forbearance in an age of competitive civil examinations, Yangzi River pirates, lantern parties, parsimony and excess gave me real pleasure. The narrative flows replete with appealing detail, patience, and admiration for the life its subject who took nearly all eighty of his years to discover his contribution to a tumultuous world. As a window into this changing world of imperial China and into the life of a figure possessing flair and fire, I recommend this book wholeheartedly.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Pleasurable trip back in time
26 Jan 2008
Format:Hardcover
This book is an evocative depiction of Ming society in China through the eyes of contemporary historian Zhang Dai. It's not a history book or a biography, but rather a snapshot of life in the late Ming dynasty. Particularly fascinating are the details of everyday gentry life, particularly in its varied and colorful amusements and hobbies, such as staging plays, tea connoisseurship, how people celebrated holidays, music, boating, antique collecting, poetry, etc., and in the duties expected of gentry, such as studying for and passing the bureaucratic exams to hold office. Also very interesting were the descriptions of Zhang's various relations (grandfathers, uncles and cousins) who varied to extremes in character and revealed much about different expressions of human nature within the social norms of the times. I felt this book truly brought ancient China alive for the reader and that alone makes this book a worthwhile read.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Not a full biography
29 Feb 2008
Format:Hardcover
According to the review by the Washington Post ,"historian Zhang Dai's long life, which began in 1597 and ended around 1680, spanned the Ming Dynasty's final, turbulent decades and its overthrow by the invading Manchus. His writings were an attempt to record a lost way of life. They include a Ming dynastic history, profiles of public figures and dreamlike sketches of scenes from his youth. Spence draws on these documents, additional research by other scholars and his deep knowledge of Ming culture to portray the inner universe of a remarkably versatile and sympathetic figure.".
I have read many books by Jonathan Spence.His historical works on China in particular "Treason by the Book" are excellent.Spence said he took several years to research and write this latest work of his. Unfortunately he appears to have only scratched the surface. This is not a full biography.I finished this book knowing only sketches of Zhang Dai.In that respect i was disappointed with this book which i had earlier bought with great expectations.
I have read many books by Jonathan Spence.His historical works on China in particular "Treason by the Book" are excellent.Spence said he took several years to research and write this latest work of his. Unfortunately he appears to have only scratched the surface. This is not a full biography.I finished this book knowing only sketches of Zhang Dai.In that respect i was disappointed with this book which i had earlier bought with great expectations.
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