The Late Poems of Wang An-Shih
Wang An-Shih author David Hinton translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:New Directions Publishing Corporation
Published:28th Apr '15
Should be back in stock very soon
Wang An-shih (1021-1086 C.E.) was a remarkable figure—not only one of the great Sung Dynasty poets, but also the most influential and controversial statesman of his time. Although Wang had little interest in the grandeur of high office and political power, he took the responsibility of serving the people seriously. He rose to become prime minister, and in this position he instituted a controversial system of radically egalitarian social reforms to improve the lives of China’s peasants. Once those reforms were securely in place, Wang retired to a reclusive life of artistic and spiritual self-cultivation.
It was after his retirement, practicing Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism and wandering the mountains around his home, that Wang An-shih wrote the poems that made his reputation. Short and plainspoken, these late poems contain profound multitudes–the passing of time, rivers and mountains, silence and Buddhist emptiness. They won him wide acclaim in China and beyond across the centuries. And in Hinton's breathtaking translations, Wang feels like a major contemporary poet with deep ecological insight and a questioning spirit.
"David Hinton's music is subtle, modulated, and does not slacken with either contemporary or classic. He has listened to the individual tone of each poet, and his craft is equal to his perception." -- Rosmarie Waldrop - citation for the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award
"David Hinton has managed to find his own way through the rivers and mountains of medieval Chinese verse re-imagining the poems themselves as subtle soundscapes suspended in us." -- citation for the PEN Poetry in Translation Award
"Wang's poetry possesses the power to transport the reader to another time and place." -- John Bradley - Rain Taxi
- Commended for Literary Award (Poetry in Translation) 2016
ISBN: 9780811222631
Dimensions: 231mm x 152mm x 10mm
Weight: 164g
128 pages