Asian Literature

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Narrative Devices in the Shiji

Provides a new model for reading the Shiji and other early Chinese historical texts.

The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya

A literary and historical investigation into an ancient Indian religious thinker, tracing his rise in importance in the Hindu tradition.

The Chinese Love Story from the Tenth to the Fourteenth Century

Traces the development of the Chinese love story during the Song and Yuan dynasties.

Crossing Boundaries and Confounding Identity

Examines literary, historical, and cultural portrayals of Chinese women, across centuries and continents.

Many Mahābhāratas

A major contribution to the study of South Asian literature, offering a landmark view of Mahābhārata studies.

The Other Rāma

A systematic analysis of the myth cycle of Paraśurāma (“Rāma with the Axe”), an avatára of Viṣṇu with a much darker reputation.

Hu Feng

A study of Hu Feng as a literary critic and case study on how intellectual work can respond to political pressure.

Navigating Deep River

An interdisciplinary dialogue with Shūsaku Endō’s last novel offering new perspectives on Japanese culture, Christian doctrine, Hindu spiritualities, and Buddhist worldviews.

Imagining China in Tokugawa Japan

By Wai-ming Ng
Subjects: Asian Studies

Pioneering study of the localization of Chinese culture in early modern Japan, using legends, classics, and historical terms as case studies.

In Pursuit of the Great Peace

Examines the Great Peace (taiping), one of the first utopian visions in Chinese history, and its impact on literati lives in Han China.

Buddhisms in Asia

A guide to Buddhism’s rich variety of traditions and cultural expressions for educators who would like to include Buddhism in their undergraduate courses.

Having a Word with Angus Graham

Critical reflections on the work of Angus Charles Graham, renowned Western scholar of Chinese philosophy and sinology.

Intimate Memory

Sheds new light on pre-modern Chinese gender relationships in the context of marriage, male Confucian literati self-presentation, and social networks.

Reading for the Moral

Reassesses didacticism in seventeenth-century Chinese vernacular fiction and challenges the view that the late Ming was a notoriously immoral time.

Enticement

Short stories that reflect the complexities of contemporary Tibetan life, written by Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden.

Between History and Philosophy

Analyzes the use of anecdotes as an essential rhetorical tool and form of persuasion in various literary genres in early China.

Journey of a Goddess

Edited and translated by Fan Pen Li Chen
Introduction by Fan Pen Li Chen
Subjects: Asian Studies

First English translations of a novel and two play excerpts based on tales of the goddess Chen Jinggu, an eighth-century shaman and present-day cult deity.

Marionette Plays from Northern China

Edited and translated by Fan Pen Li Chen
Introduction by Fan Pen Li Chen
Subjects: Asian Studies

English-language translations of traditional plays from the marionette puppet theater of Northern China.

Military Thought in Early China

Provides a systematic and comprehensive survey of writings on military philosophy in early China.

The Rhetoric of Hiddenness in Traditional Chinese Culture

Considers the role of hiddenness in the history of cultural production in premodern China.

The Commentarial Transformation of the Spring and Autumn

Shows how the text evolved from a non-narrative historical record into a Confucian classic.

The Shaman and the Heresiarch

The first book-length study in English of the Chinese classic, the Li sao (Encountering Sorrow). Includes translations of the Li sao and the Nine Songs.

History, Narrative, and Testimony in Amitav Ghosh's Fiction

Edited by Chitra Sankaran
Subjects: Asian Studies

Comprehensive overview of the work of Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh.

Nagai Kafū's Occidentalism

Describes how writer Nagai Kafū (1879–1959) used his experience of the West to reconcile modernization and Japanese identity.

Kāma's Flowers

Explores the transformation of Hindi poetry as it reflects a changing society during the period from 1885 to 1925.

When Huai Flowers Bloom

Depicts the Cultural Revolution through stories in a variety of voices.

Colonizing the Realm of Words

Details the transformation of Tamil literary culture that came with colonialism and the encounter with Western modernity.

Interpretation and Literature in Early Medieval China

Explores the new literary and interpretive milieu that emerged in the years following the decline of China’s Han dynasty.

Śiva's Demon Devotee

An exploration and translation of the work of Hindu poet-saint Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār.

The Fall of the Indigo Jackal

Contemporary critical theory is brought to the consideration of caste in the Pañcatantra, one of the best-known cycles of Indian tales.

Chinese Theories of Fiction

An ambitious, innovative work that proposes a distinctly Chinese theory of fiction.

Hong Mai's Record of the Listener and Its Song Dynasty Context

The first book-length consideration of Hong Mai’s Record of the Listener, the Song dynasty text that has been an ongoing source of literary and social history.

The Social Circulation of Poetry in the Mid-Northern Song

Explores how literati of China’s mid-Northern Song period developed a social and therapeutic tradition in poetry. Includes a number of translations of the witty poems of the period.

Bashō's Journey

Offers the most comprehensive collection of Basho's prose available, beautifully translated into English.

Bashō's Haiku

A wonderful new translation of the poetry of Basho—Zen monk, poet of nature, and master of the haiku form.

Chinese Aesthetics and Literature

Featuring the work of renowned scholars, this anthology provides an introduction to Chinese aesthetics and literature.

Rediscovering Wen Tingyun

A new look at the life, times, and work of the great Tang dynasty poet, Wen Tingyun, that rebuts the negative aspects of his reputation. Translations of a number of his works are included.

Wandering Heart

This first Western language study of one of Japan's most popular writers includes translations of key passages, critical commentary, and full translations of three essays by Hayashi Fumiko.

Narrative as Counter-Memory

A pioneering study of German and Japanese postwar fiction, providing a broad cultural basis for understanding a half-century of responses to World War II from within the two societies.

The Poetics of Decadence

A reconsideration of Chinese decadent (tuifei) poetry which argues that this poetry is not a marginal trend but rather a vital part of the Chinese literary tradition.

Tokugawa Confucian Education

Presents the philosophy and values of Hirose Tanso, a scholar, educator, and poet whose well-articulated educational program was partly responsible for the relative ease with which Japan emerged from hundreds of years of self-imposed isolation and became a powerful modern nation.

The Cloudy Mirror

Sima Qian's writings have influenced the Chinese for over 2,000 years and still serve as a fiscal source of historical information about China.

Visions of Sukhāvatī

One of the masters of Pure Land Buddhism shows how to have a vision of the Land Sukhavati and its Lord by using the sutra as a manual of visualization.

Wholeness Lost and Wholeness Regained

This book deals in narrative form with the theme of recovering lost wholeness—with the perennial question of beginnings and what role a human being must play in order to find meaning in his or her life. ...