Timber and Lua
AWARD-WINNING CO-AUTHORS - AUTHOR of UNDERNEATH - PEN OPEN BOOKS AWARD WINNER - PEN USA NONFICTION BOOK AWARD FINALIST - Co-Authors Lily Ho?ng and Vi Khi N?o present TIMBER AND LUA Ten short stories written by Lily Ho?ng and Vi Khi N?o explore a range of styles from love stories to speculative fiction and fairy tales. Timber and Lụa is an experimental collaboration between Lily Ho?ng and Vi Khi N?o, blending self-translations across Vietlish, Vietnamese, and English to create a unique diasporic literary genre. Comprised of ten short stories, the collection explores a range of styles from love stories to speculative fiction and fairy tales. These stories reflect themes of generational trauma, identity, and cultural clash, offering a dynamic, eccentric range of narratives: love stories woven through fragmented memories, a blend of folklore and fantasy, Vietnamese-American identities reimagined in a post-apocalyptic world, and an exploration of how meaning transforms in self-translation. Similar to Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov, who translated their own work (from English to French and from Russian to English, respectively), Ho?ng and N?o extend that makeshift "tradition" by hybridizing their translation to graft the genetic material of one language (English) and the genetic material of another language (Vietnamese) to produce a new literary diasporic genre. Timber and Lụa coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the Fall of Saigon (1975-2025), as a diasporic literary contribution and commemorative celebration.
New Stories Told While Trimming the Wick
The Hsu-Tang Library presents authoritative and eminently readable translations of classical Chinese literature, in bilingual editions, ranging across three millennia and the entire Sinitic world. New Tales Told While Trimming the Wick by the talented scholar and poet of the Ming dynasty, Qu You (1347-1433), was the first work of fiction officially banned in China, but also the first internationally acclaimed collection of Chinese short stories. These tales often seem quite modern in their character development and plot intricacies, with characters facing ethical and moral challenges that are just as difficult to navigate today as they were over six hundred years ago. This collection is a crucial and delightful bridge between the classical tales of the Tang dynasty and Pu Songling's famous Strange Tales from Liaozhai in the Qing. Despite being fiction filled with supernatural elements, New Tales offers fascinating insights into the life and society of China during the turbulent transition between the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Translated in full for the first time, with a contextual introduction to the stories and their author, historical and literary annotations to aid the reader, and bibliographical support, this volume introduces a collection of tales that have had a profound influence on literature across all of Asia.
Hiding in Caverns Formed from Old Roots
Yu Xuanji (c. 843-868) is one of the most interesting poets in premodern Chinese literature, and her approximately fifty extant poems include some of the most arresting writing from the Tang dynasty--a period known as the golden age of Chinese poetry. Born a commoner, by fifteen Yu had become the concubine of a man from an illustrious family, until he abandoned her and she became a Daoist priestess, where she took on an active role as a poet as well as a religious practitioner. She was only a priestess for two years before she was executed at the age of twenty-six on dubious accusations of murder. Yu's story is fascinating, but her poetry is even more so. Despite her relatively slim output and the patriarchal culture in which she lived, she became known for writing that combines late Tang lushness with a rare frankness about what it meant to be a woman in the ninth century. Yu was an incisive and expressive poet, and her work treats a wide range of topics, such as love, spirituality, abandonment, female friendship, sex, and sexuality. Preceded by a critical introduction explaining the possibility of a tradition of women's poetry in medieval China, as well as Yu's relationship with the dominant tradition of male poets, this collection of innovative translations combines scholarly accuracy with a poet's demand for creative solutions in handling the crossover between languages and literary styles.
If I Must Die
"If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale."This rich, elegiac compilation of work from the late Palestinian poet and professor, Refaat Alareer, brings together his marvelous poetry and deeply human writing about literature, teaching, politics, and family. The renowned poet and literature professor Refaat Alareer was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City alongside his brother, sister, and nephews in December 2023. He was just forty-four years old, but had already established a worldwide reputation that was further enhanced when, in the wake of his death, the poem that gives this book its title became a global sensation. "If I Must Die" is included here, alongside Refaat's other poetry.Refaat wrote extensively about a range of topics: teaching Shakespeare and the way Shylock could be appreciated by young Palestinian students; the horrors of living under repeated brutal assaults in Gaza, one of which, in 2014, killed another of his brothers; and the generosity of Palestinians to each other, fighting, in the face of it all, to be the one paying at the supermarket checkout.Such pieces, some never before published, have been curated here by one of Refaat's closest friends and collaborators. This collection forms a fitting testament to a remarkable writer, educator, and activist, one whose voice will not be silenced by death but will continue to assert the power of learning and humanism in the face of barbarity.
Granta 169
From Nobel Prize-winning writers to debut novelists, Britain's most prestigious literary magazine brings you the best in newwriting, photography and art from around the world. No nation boasts more manufacturing capacity than thePeople's Republic of China, yet few countries' literary products are less knownin the English-speaking world. Witnesses to the country's revolutionarymodernisation, China's writers have experienced historical whiplashes andsprints forward on an extreme scale. The zhiqing - theeducated youth whom Mao 'sent down' to the countryside and who experienced adecade of extreme austerity - are at a vast distance from the generations belowthem, who have lived through an epoch of self-assertion and creative dreaming.In China today, writers across generations look abroad, to new technologies, aswell as to rich veins in the Chinese literary past for new modes of expression. Granta's special issue on the writing of contemporary Chinacollects the mainland's most thrilling voices. Featuring memoir from Xiao Haion moving to Shenzhen at fifteen to work in its factories, reportage from HanZhang, who visits the working-class writers carving out a living in Picun, aswell as new fiction from Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Yan Lianke, Shuang Xuetao, ZhangYueran, Ban Yu, Wang Zhanhei, Zhou Jingzhi, and many more. Poetry by Huang Fan, Lan Lan, Hu Xudong andZheng Xiaoqiong. Photography by Feng Li, Haohui Liu, and Li Jie andZhang Jungang.
More Swindles from the Late Ming
A woman seduces her landlord to extort the family farm. Gamblers recruit a wily prostitute to get a rich young man back in the game. Silver counterfeiters wreak havoc for traveling merchants. A wealthy widow is drugged and robbed by a lodger posing as a well-to-do student. Vengeful judges and corrupt clerks pervert the course of justice. Cunning soothsayers spur on a plot to overthrow the emperor. Yet good sometimes triumphs, as when amateur sleuths track down a crew of homicidal boatmen or a cold-case murder is exposed by a frog. These are just a few of the tales of crime and depravity appearing in More Swindles from the Late Ming, a book that offers a panorama of vice--and words of warning--from one seventeenth-century writer. This companion volume to The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection presents sensational stories of scams that range from the ingenious to the absurd to the lurid, many featuring sorcery, sex, and extreme violence. Together, the two volumes represent the first complete translation into any language of a landmark Chinese anthology, making an essential contribution to the global literature of trickery and fraud. An introduction explores the geography of grift, the role of sex and family relations, and the portrayal of Buddhist clergy and others claiming supernatural powers. Opening a window onto the colorful world of crime and deception in late imperial China, this book testifies to the enduring popularity of stories about scoundrels and their schemes.
More Swindles from the Late Ming
A woman seduces her landlord to extort the family farm. Gamblers recruit a wily prostitute to get a rich young man back in the game. Silver counterfeiters wreak havoc for traveling merchants. A wealthy widow is drugged and robbed by a lodger posing as a well-to-do student. Vengeful judges and corrupt clerks pervert the course of justice. Cunning soothsayers spur on a plot to overthrow the emperor. Yet good sometimes triumphs, as when amateur sleuths track down a crew of homicidal boatmen or a cold-case murder is exposed by a frog. These are just a few of the tales of crime and depravity appearing in More Swindles from the Late Ming, a book that offers a panorama of vice--and words of warning--from one seventeenth-century writer. This companion volume to The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection presents sensational stories of scams that range from the ingenious to the absurd to the lurid, many featuring sorcery, sex, and extreme violence. Together, the two volumes represent the first complete translation into any language of a landmark Chinese anthology, making an essential contribution to the global literature of trickery and fraud. An introduction explores the geography of grift, the role of sex and family relations, and the portrayal of Buddhist clergy and others claiming supernatural powers. Opening a window onto the colorful world of crime and deception in late imperial China, this book testifies to the enduring popularity of stories about scoundrels and their schemes.
The Words That Bring Us to Dance
The Words That Bring Us to Dance is an evocative journey into the soulful world of Hafez, the revered 14th-century Persian poet. Ali Arsanjani, following in the footsteps of major translators of yore, has ambitiously taken on the challenge of not only translating but also casting Hafez's works as ghazals in English, a daunting feat that is sure to intrigue and delight readers.This collection is intended to immerse the reader in Hafez's profound reflections on love, spirituality, and the human experience. Each ghazal, while conscientiously translated, retains a semblance of the rhythmic heartbeat akin of its original form, attempting to retain some of the musicality and depth for which Hafez is renowned. The pursuit of presenting the translations as English ghazals ensures an added layer of artistic interpretation, offering readers a fresh and innovative way to engage with the classic texts.The title aptly encapsulates the central theme: words that stir the soul, prompting it to dance in ecstatic recognition of the Divine.Beyond the translations, Arsanjani offers insights into the historical and cultural context of the verses. Their annotations elucidate the multi-layered meanings, making the poet's timeless wisdom accessible to contemporary readers.For both the uninitiated and those familiar with Hafez's work, "The Words That Bring Us to Dance" is more than just a book; it's an invitation to a mystical dance, a transcendent experience where poetry and spirituality intertwine, leading the reader to gateways toward the path of enlightenment.
The Poetry of Subramania Bharathi
The Poetry of Subramani Bharathi combines the work of ten leading Indian scholars assessing Bharathi's life and work as one of their country's leading poets, a native of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India. Bharathi belonged to a generation and century when India was waging its freedom struggle, and he was widely known throughout the country as one of its cultural leaders. As a fervent nationalist, Bharathi actively participated in Indian Freedom Struggle. From a humble background, he rose to fame by dint of hard work. At times, he was looked down upon, but he overcame adversity and knew great success in his lifetime.
与命运的碰撞（Collision with Fate, Bilingual Edition）
这是一个有关三个年轻人及三个家庭的故事。它围绕着爱情，友情，亲情。新宇，怡珺，浩然是多年的朋友。在他们二十岁左右的时候，悲剧发生了。只剩下了浩然，没有新宇和怡珺的日子里，他们是如何重建家园，走出困境。让生活充满了阳光！喜欢的都拥有，失去的都释怀。家，永远是心灵的避风港。As a young couple's struggles achieve success they provide for other struggling families and bring them into their home and community. Three young souls grow up in the support and warmth of this close knit rural community and central farm, only to collide with the hazards of their youth, circumstances, and fate.
Against Storytelling
About the bookA unique collection of essays about the meaning and significance of storytelling in our time.At what point did we begin to say, 'We are all storytellers'? Far from being a timeless idea, the statement seems to go back to no further than the 1980s, coterminous with the dawning of a new kind of epic novel, an unprecedented supremacy for the English language, and the era of economic liberalisation. Who was it who made 'storytelling' synonymous with cultures outside the West? And could it just be conceivable that much of what's most worthwhile about writing and creativity occur on the fringes of the story?The essays in this book, delivered originally as talks at a Literary Activism symposium, look again at the assumptions that underlie the way we think of storytelling and storytellers. The contributors include novelists, academics and translators including Anjum Hasan, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Charles Bernstein, Geoffrey O'Brien, Gurvinder Singh, Jeremy Harding, Jean-Fr矇d矇ric Chevallier and Tiffany Atkinson.About the EditorAmit Chaudhuri is an award-winning novelist, poet, essayist and musician.
The King of Ningxia
The King of Ningxia is a taught, fraught, cold romance between an American man and a Chinese woman whose fates reverse after Asia's great economic rise. Toward the end of a two-year romance in 1984, a young Chinese poet asks the visiting American to stay. With respect and affection, he says no and returns home. Decades later, he is broke. She is rich. They reunite in New York, and he asks for money. She says yes. Her reasons are emotional, financial, and geo-political. Together they form an ill-defined partnership that redeems them both and impacts large events both East and West, all the while being shadowed by wistful memories of what might have been, and what still could be. In this work of literary fiction, readers will: Learn how a political outcast achieves great wealth.Observe how power in China is more important than money.Follow an American nobody as he influences China's ruling Central Committee.See the lingering, lasting effects of interrupted love.Like their perspective countries, the two main characters in this novel relate, don't relate, come together, fall apart, succeed, fail, help each other, hurt each other, and ultimately, probably, decide that it's best for both to stay close, trusting each other and staying in each other's debt.
Woman at Point Zero
Internationally acclaimed Egyptian feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi's landmark novel Woman at Point Zero, published here with a new foreword. Firdaus is on death row. Her crime, the murder of a man. Born into poverty in a rural Egyptian village, her childhood dreams and ambitions had been met with neglect and abuse by the world and the men who rule it. Driven to sex work to support herself, she is faced with the moral outrage of society and the bitter knowledge that for a woman, true freedom comes only when all hope is abandoned. In Woman at Point Zero, Firdaus tells her unforgettable story. Woman at Point Zero is also available in audiobook format from audiobook retailers.
Muse of Light
Chen Yingzhao, an undergraduate student majoring in English at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Southwest Minzu University, is passionate about English, literature, and poetry translation. She has won the second prize in the National English Competition for College Students and the second prize in the 2024 FLTRP English Debate Open-Eastern China Championship, and other awards.
Zan
In prose that is both unflinching and lyrical, Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh presents Zan, a collection of stories that provide a deep and nuanced view of contemporary Iranian women as they navigate a crucial moment in their nation's history.A university student strips off her hijab in the streets of Tehran and films herself as part of a daring protest movement. A wealthy Iranian woman living in Atlanta maintains a secret life as a burlesque dancer. A teenager slips out of a hotel room at night to skinny dip in the toxic Caspian Sea. An Iranian lesbian agonizes over her coming out and her father's subsequent attempts to re-educate her. These are some of the many windows Zan opens into the complex lives of Iranian women today-those who continue to suffer oppression under the Islamic Republic, those who are crafting new identities in America, and those who hover somewhere in between. Against the backdrops of the Islamic Republic and the American empire, these women grapple with the rigid standards foisted upon them and struggle to forge meaningful relationships with people who misunderstand and otherize them. Winner of the 2022 Dzanc Short Collection Prize, Zan explores feelings familiar to anyone who has ever felt marginalized or who has sought a home in a world where cultures collide and conflict.
Occupied
SOME PEOPLE LIVE UNDER OCCUPATION.SOME PEOPLE OCCUPY THEMSELVES.NO ONE IS FREE.Get your copy of Joss Sheldon's best-selling novel today...Step into a world which is both magically fictitious and shockingly real. Walk side-by-side with a refugee, native, occupier and economic migrant. And watch on as the world around you transforms from a halcyon past into a dystopian future.Inspired by the occupations of Palestine, Kurdistan and Tibet, and by the corporate occupation of the west, 'Occupied' is a haunting glance into a society which is a little too familiar for comfort.Powerful, dark, dystopian and magical; Occupied truly is a unique piece of literary fiction..."Darker than George Orwell's 1984" - AXS"Candid and disquieting" - Free Tibet"Genre-busting" - Pak Asia Times"Brilliant" - Middle East Monitor"A must read" - Buzzfeed
Najm Al-Dīn Al-Kātibī’s Al-Risālah Al-Shamsiyyah
A scholarly edition of a classic textbook on logic Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī's al-Risālah al-Shamsiyyah is a scholarly edition and translation of The Rules of Logic, with commentary and notes. Composed by Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī, a scholar of the Shāfiʿī school of law, al-Risālah al-Shamsiyyah is the most widely read introduction to logic in the Arabic-speaking world. It has probably enjoyed a longer shelf-life than any other logic textbook ever written, having been in use by madrasah students from the early eighth/fourteenth century up until the present day. Building on the theories of Avicenna, al-Rāzī, and other pioneers of logic, al-Kātibī discusses the many pitfalls of building arguments and setting out unambiguous claims in natural language. The enduring nature of the text is a testament to al-Kātibī and his impact on concepts of formal discourse and argument. An Arabic edition with English scholarly apparatus.
Cast Me Out If You Will
There have been no women in our part of the country whose names posterity found it worthwhile to cherish, writes Lalithambika Antherjanam (1909-1985) in Come Back, her fictional account of an Indian woman activist's life. In Cast Me Out If You Will, however, Antherjanam's stories bring to life the experiences of women living at all levels of Indian society. From the faithful and devoted nanny of Wooden Cradles to the lonely young bride of In the Moonlight, Antherjanam's characters are keenly observed and faithfully rendered. This unique collection of short stories and personal memoirs--a compilation representing half a century of writing and activism--is the ideal introduction to one of India's best-loved and foremost feminist authors. Antherjanam was an early feminist of Kerala, at the tip of India's subcontinent, at the beginning of the 20th century. Her family was supportive, encouraging her education and writing, but as a Brahmin woman she was confined to seclusion until her marriage, fortunately arranged to a man sympathetic to her pursuit of women's rights. Antherjanam's stories offer clear-eyed and chilling testimony to the brutal oppression suffered by Indian women cast out if they dared to stray from enforced subjugation. At the same time, they celebrate their resilience, resistance, and vitality of these individuals. This volume includes a selection of her fiction and memoir, which captures early moments in India's nationalist and feminist movements.
I Find Your Beauty In The Taste Of Your Eyes《从眼睛的味道中找到你的美》
Translation PrefaceZhangjiajie I'm Traveling You With Eye's Taste In His Poems--Write To My Translated Poetry Collection, I Find Your Beauty In The Taste Of Your EyesBy Sophy ChenMy dear poets, readers and friends around the world, now I have finished all poem's C-E translation and edit of a beautiful poetry collection: I Find Your Beauty In The Taste Of Your Eyes. The whole collection of poems is bilingual in Chinese and English. Of course, there are several poems that are chinese-english-japanese and chinese-english-italian. I know I can not show you how beatuful the poems in it only in some words, however I can not stand to tell you some of my feeling of reading and translation of poems in this book.As a Chinese people I never traveled the poet's hometown, Zhangjiajie, but actually I have traveled it in him poems with poet together. So I wish all of poets, readers and friends around the world if you will travel China please do not forget to visit poet's hometown Zhangjiajie. We can find a chance to travel together as the name of poetry in reality.As a translator I will tell you this is the first poetry collection I translated among them which gives me so much pressure based on its long, magnificent sentence pattern, strong rhythm, and odd language, so the translator needs to translate such complex Chinese language into English language it may not so easy for most of them.You need to pay very close attention to it and most time your whole soul was held into poems but it is so lucky that the poems always lead you to the most relaxed places and just like you go to nature yourselves, even you are always in your bed room or your office or any where you translate them with your vivid mind. So it both gives your translation pressure and vast relaxtion.As a reader and a translator, when you read it or translate it, the poet does not give you any time to get away from his poetry world just like an interesting film and you are totally attracted into the plot and you just forgot who you are and where you are and most of time after you just stop reading or translating you may feel you just already come back from the poet's hometown. You know I am not a tour guider and I do not travel so much in reality, so to read and translate these nice poems just give me very good chance to visit some places and in this way I may save so much money, ok, just make a joke here. So if you have no time to visit some places or you have no chance to go to Zhangjiajie, please go with the poet in his poems.My dear poets, readers and friends around the world, I am so luck that I can show you the beautiful poetry collection translated by me and you are all far away If you have no chance to travel in China, please travel it in his poems first and if one day you will come to China please let me now and I will be your tour guider as name of a poet of China.
Omar Khayyam’s Secret
Omar Khayyam's Secret: Hermeneutics of the Robaiyat in Quantum Sociological Imagination, by Mohammad H. Tamdgidi, is a 12-book series of which this book is the 7th volume, subtitled Khayyami Art: The Art of Poetic Secrecy for a Lasting Existence: Tracing the Robaiyat in Nowrooznameh, Isfahan's North Dome, and Other Poems of Omar Khayyam, and Solving the Riddle of His Robaiyat Attributability. Each book, independently readable, can be best understood as a part of the whole series.In Book 7, Tamdgidi shares his updated edition of Khayyam's Persian book Nowrooznameh, and for the first time his new English translation of it, followed by his analysis of its text. He then visits recent findings about the possible contribution of Khayyam to the design of Isfahan's North Dome. Next, he shares the texts, and his new Persian and English translations and analyses of Khayyam's other Arabic and Persian poems. Finally he studies the debates about the attributability of the Robaiyat to Khayyam.Tamdgidi verifiably shows that Nowrooznameh was written by Khayyam, arguing that its unjustifiable neglect has prevented Khayyami studies from answering important questions about Khayyam's life, works, and his times. Nowrooznameh is primarily a work in literary art, rather than in science, tasked not with reporting on past truths but with creating new truths in the spirit of Khayyam's conceptualist view of reality. Iran owes the continuity of its Zoroastrian calendar month names to the way Khayyam artfully recast their meanings in the book in order to prevent their being dismissed during the Islamic solar calendar reform underway under his invited direction. The book also sheds light on the mysterious function of Isfahan's North Dome, revealing it as having been to serve, as part of an observatory complex, for the annual Nowrooz celebrations and leap-year declarations of the new calendar. The North Dome, to whose design Khayyam contributed and in fact bears symbols of his unitary view of a world created for happiness by God, marks where the world's most accurate solar calendar of the time was calculated. It deserves to be named after Omar Khayyam (not Taj ol-Molk) and declared as a cultural world heritage site. Nowrooznameh is also a pioneer in the prince-guidance books genre that anticipated the likes of Machiavelli's The Prince by centuries, the difference being that Khayyam's purpose was to inculcate his Iranian and Islamic love for justice and the pursuit of happiness in the young successors of Soltan Malekshah. Iran is famed for its ways of converting its invaders into its own culture, and Nowrooznameh offers a textbook example for how it was done by Khayyam.Nowrooznameh also offers by way of its intricately multilayered meanings the mediating link between Khayyam's philosophical, theological, and scientific works, and his Robaiyat, showing through metaphorical clues of his beautiful prose how his poetry could bring lasting spiritual existence to its poet posthumously. Khayyam's other Arabic and Persian poems also provide significant clues about the origins, the nature, and the purpose of the Robaiyat as his lifelong project and magnum opus.Tamdgidi argues that the thesis of Khayyam's Robaiyat as a secretive artwork of quatrains organized in an intended reasoning order as a 'book of life' serving to bring about his lasting spiritual existence can solve the manifold puzzles contributing to the riddle of his Robaiyat attributability. He posits, and in the forthcoming books of this series will show, that the lost quatrains comprising the original Robaiyat have become extant over the centuries, such that we can now reconstruct, by way of solving their 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, the collection as it was meant to be read as an ode of interrelated quatrains by Khayyam.
The Doctors’ Dinner Party
A witty satire of the medical profession The Doctors' Dinner Party is an eleventh-century satire in the form of a novella, set in a medical milieu. A young doctor from out of town is invited to dinner with a group of older medical men, whose conversation reveals their incompetence. Written by the accomplished physician Ibn Buṭlān, the work satirizes the hypocrisy of quack doctors while displaying Ibn Buṭlān's own deep technical knowledge of medical practice, including surgery, blood-letting, and medicines. He also makes reference to the great thinkers and physicians of the ancient world, including Hippocrates, Galen, and Socrates. Combining literary parody with social satire, the book is richly textured and carefully organized: in addition to the use of the question-and-answer format associated with technical literature, it is replete with verse and subtexts that hint at the infatuation of the elderly practitioners with their young guest. The Doctors' Dinner Party is an entertaining read in which the author skewers the pretensions of the physicians around the table. An English-only edition.
Judeo-Persian Writings
Introducing Judeo-Persian writings, this original collection gives parallel samples in Judeo-Persian and Perso-Arabic script and translations in English. Judeo-Persian writings not only reflect the twenty-seven centuries of Jewish life in Iran, but they are also a testament to their intellectual, cultural and socio-economic conditions.
The Water Margin: Outlaws of the Marsh
"[The Water Margin] is a great pageant of China. I think it is one of the most magnificent pageants ever made of any people." --Pearl S. Buck The Water Margin is an epic tale set in 12th century Imperial China, and is one of the earliest and greatest masterpieces of Chinese fiction. Weaving together historical details and memorable characters, it tells the exciting story of a rebellion against tyranny set amidst the turmoil of a crumbling empire. In this action-packed story, a desperate band of outlaws are drawn together by fate and a shared desire for justice. They are pursued to remote marshes near Liangshan Mountain by corrupt officials, where their popularity among the local populace only grows. Through intricate schemes, epic battles, narrow escapes and unexpected treachery, the heroes vow to fight to the death for freedom and for their loyalty and love for one another. The book's intriguing cast of characters, all revered folk heroes in China today, includes: Song Jiang: The charismatic leader of the rebellion, who assembles the band of outcasts and leads them into battle against overwhelming oddsSun Erniang: A determined female warrior whose courage inspires her male comradesWu Song: Fierce and audacious, with a reputation matched only by his love of wine and womenPan Jinliang: A beautiful and mysterious temptress known as one of the most notorious villains in Chinese literatureFamous for its bawdy language, this new edition restores passages omitted in all other English versions because they were thought to be too racy. A detailed introduction by Edwin Lowe explains how the book's core message of courage and loyalty has captured the imagination of Chinese readers and continues to resonate with them today.
Eight Dogs, or Hakkenden
Kyokutei Bakin's Nansō Satomi Hakkenden is one of the monuments of Japanese literature. This multigenerational samurai saga was one of the most popular and influential books of the nineteenth century and has been adapted many times into film, television, fiction, and comics.His Master's Blade, the second part of Hakkenden, begins the story of the eight Dog Warriors created from the mystic union between Princess Fuse and the dog Yatsufusa and born into eight different samurai families in fifteenth-century Japan. The first is Inuzuka Shino, orphaned descendent of proud warriors. Left with nothing save a magical sword and the bead that marks him as a Dog Warrior, young Shino escapes his evil aunt and uncle and sets out to restore his family name. Unaware of their karmic bond, Shino and the other Dog Warriors are drawn into a world of vendettas and quests, gallants, and rogues, as each strives to learn his true nature and find his place in the eight-man fraternity.
Eight Dogs, or Hakkenden
Kyokutei Bakin's Nansō Satomi Hakkenden is one of the monuments of Japanese literature. This multigenerational samurai saga was one of the most popular and influential books of the nineteenth century and has been adapted many times into film, television, fiction, and comics.His Master's Blade, the second part of Hakkenden, begins the story of the eight Dog Warriors created from the mystic union between Princess Fuse and the dog Yatsufusa and born into eight different samurai families in fifteenth-century Japan. The first is Inuzuka Shino, orphaned descendent of proud warriors. Left with nothing save a magical sword and the bead that marks him as a Dog Warrior, young Shino escapes his evil aunt and uncle and sets out to restore his family name. Unaware of their karmic bond, Shino and the other Dog Warriors are drawn into a world of vendettas and quests, gallants, and rogues, as each strives to learn his true nature and find his place in the eight-man fraternity.
American Legal Eagle in Singapore and other short stories
American Legal Eagle in SingaporeA light-hearted take on a serious and potentially controversial issue. The courts routinely impose gag orders on victims of sexual offence. Should the courts also grant the same anonymity to persons charged with sex-related crimes until that person is found guilty.-Blue MaidenDuring the days of the British Raj, many women of India - girls, wives, and mothers - were heroines. Ordinary women, yet courageous and resourceful, who were found throughout the Empire. Blue Maiden is a composite of the challenges faced and surmounted by many such forgotten souls.-Veda Vyasa, author of MahabharataVeda Vyasa fathered two sons with the two widows of his dead brother to ensure the continuance of the Kuru patriarchal lineage. His sons fathered the five Pandavas and one hundred Kauravas. Veda Vyasa subsequently chronicled his family saga, the epic Mahabharata.-Ashwatthama the ImmortalAshwatthama, another supporting character in Mahabharata is one of the Eight Immortals. How did he become an immortal? Was it a blessing or a bane?-The MasseurWe often read of women from poor countries forced into abhorrent jobs. Most times, these women have families to support. What if the roles were reversed? The Masseur is a short story of wealthy, powerful women abusing vulnerable young men. A story set in Singapore (yet could also be in any other country). Go behind the glitzy skyline and get a literal taste of the seedier side of life in this global city-state that boasts one of the highest number of millionaires per capita in the world.-Nouveau RicheThe story of one man's idea of success, no matter what other so-called high-flyers might think.-Brown Lives MatterPoignant short story of a silent victim of racism who endured society's judgement and emerged a better person, without the need for rancour or revenge.
The Dawn of the Warrior Age
The war between the Heike and Genji clans in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is among the most compelling and significant moments in Japan's history, immortalized in The Tale of the Heike. Beyond the events recorded in this canonical text, the conflicts of the surrounding years are crucial to medieval Japanese culture and history. In 1156, power began to slip away from the court nobility in Kyoto. A shogunate was later founded in Kamakura, and in 1221, it won a decisive victory over the court. The three war tales translated in this book tell the story of these critical decades, vividly recording stages in the passage from rule by the imperial court in Kyoto to rule by the warrior government in Kamakura. "The Tale of the Hōgen Years" recounts a deposed emperor's disastrous attempt to regain the throne in 1156. "The Tale of the Heiji Years" narrates a bloody clash between rival courtier factions in 1159. "An Account of the Jōkyū Years" records Kamakura's victory over the imperial attempt to overthrow it in 1221. These works do not simply complete the story of The Tale of the Heike--they are classics of Japanese literature in their own right. Royall Tyler's lively translation masterfully conveys the nature of medieval Japanese warfare, rendering aristocratic power politics and the brutal realities of violence with equal aplomb. The Dawn of the Warrior Age is an essential book for readers interested in premodern Japanese history and literature.
The Dawn of the Warrior Age
The war between the Heike and Genji clans in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is among the most compelling and significant moments in Japan's history, immortalized in The Tale of the Heike. Beyond the events recorded in this canonical text, the conflicts of the surrounding years are crucial to medieval Japanese culture and history. In 1156, power began to slip away from the court nobility in Kyoto. A shogunate was later founded in Kamakura, and in 1221, it won a decisive victory over the court. The three war tales translated in this book tell the story of these critical decades, vividly recording stages in the passage from rule by the imperial court in Kyoto to rule by the warrior government in Kamakura. "The Tale of the Hōgen Years" recounts a deposed emperor's disastrous attempt to regain the throne in 1156. "The Tale of the Heiji Years" narrates a bloody clash between rival courtier factions in 1159. "An Account of the Jōkyū Years" records Kamakura's victory over the imperial attempt to overthrow it in 1221. These works do not simply complete the story of The Tale of the Heike--they are classics of Japanese literature in their own right. Royall Tyler's lively translation masterfully conveys the nature of medieval Japanese warfare, rendering aristocratic power politics and the brutal realities of violence with equal aplomb. The Dawn of the Warrior Age is an essential book for readers interested in premodern Japanese history and literature.
Writing Violence and Buddhism in Sri Lanka
This book examines the idea of violence in the context of religion and literature. It addresses the question of freedom and peace, and violence, with reference to the Buddhist nationalist discourse in Sri Lanka, against the backdrop of Shyam Selvadurai's novel, The Hungry Ghosts. The book discusses love, compassion, emancipation, ethics and responsibility through the concepts of identity, deconstruction and decolonization to view religion as language or writing. With a blend of philosophical insights from Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, Maurice Blanchot, and Mahatma Gandhi on ideas of being and the other, differences, nonviolence and forgiveness, it insists on the ethical exigency of reinventing Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Delving into some the central motifs of Selvadurai's novel, suffering, desire, hate, and vengeance, it questions popular Sinhala Buddhist readings to argue for the promise of inclusive and diverse approaches towards various groups, linguistic communities, women, and homosexuality. This book will be useful for scholars and researchers of literature and languages, South Asian literature, literary criticism and theory, linguistics, cultural studies, philosophy, religion, Buddhist studies, diaspora studies, and Sri Lankan literature and sociology.
The Essence of Reality
A groundbreaking exposition of Islamic mysticism The Essence of Reality was written over the course of just three days in 514/1120, by a scholar who was just twenty-four. The text, like its author ʿAyn al-Quḍāt, is remarkable for many reasons, not least of which that it is in all likelihood the earliest philosophical exposition of mysticism in the Islamic intellectual tradition. This important work would go on to exert significant influence on both classical Islamic philosophy and philosophical mysticism. Written in a terse yet beautiful style, The Essence of Reality consists of one hundred brief chapters interspersed with Qurʾanic verses, prophetic sayings, Sufi maxims, and poetry. In conversation with the work of the philosophers Avicenna and al-Ghazālī, the book takes readers on a philosophical journey, with lucid expositions of questions including the problem of the eternity of the world; the nature of God's essence and attributes; the concepts of "before" and "after"; and the soul's relationship to the body. All these discussions are seamlessly tied into ʿAyn al-Quḍāt's foundational argument--that mystical knowledge lies beyond the realm of the intellect. A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
The Book of Monasteries
A literary tour of Christian monasteries of the medieval Middle East The Book of Monasteries takes readers on an engaging tour of the monastic centers of the medieval Middle East, illustrated with a rich variety of poetry and prose. Starting with monasteries in Baghdad, readers are taken up the Tigris into the mountains of south-eastern Anatolia before moving to Palestine and Syria, along the Euphrates down to the old Christian center of Ḥīrah and onward to Egypt. For the literary anthologist al-Shābushtī, who was Muslim, monasteries were important sites of interactions between Abbasid elites and the Christian communities that made up about half the population of the Abbasid Empire at the time. Each section in this anthology covers a specific monastery, beginning with a discussion of its location and the reason for its name. Al-Shābushtī presents poems, anecdotes, and historical reports related to each site. He selects heroic and spectacular incidents, illustrations of caliphal extravagance, and occasions that gave rise to memorable verse. Important political personalities and events that were indirectly linked with monasteries also appear here, as do scenes of festive court life and gruesome murders. Through these accounts, al-Shābushtī offers readers a meditation on the splendor of Abbasid culture as well as moral and philosophical lessons: the ephemerality of power; the virtues of generosity and tolerance; the effectiveness of eloquence in prose and poetry; and the fleeting nature of pleasure and beauty. Translated into English for the first time, The Book of Monasteries offers an entertaining panorama of religious, political, and literary life during the Abbasid era. A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
Primary Sources, Historical Collections
Delve into the history of Armenian literature through this comprehensive catalogue of manuscripts housed in the Bodleian Library. The book provides detailed descriptions and in-depth analysis of each manuscript, shedding light on the richness of Armenian literary culture.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Primary Sources, Historical Collections
This collection of Chinese prose showcases some of the most beautiful and timeless works of ancient literature. The book provides a fascinating insight into Chinese culture and history, with the added benefit of Herbert A. Giles' expert guidance. Any lover of literature will find much to enjoy and appreciate here.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The Royal Crown Indian Reader. A Selection of LIterary Extracts
Designed for Indian students of English, this reader provides a wide range of literary selections from both Indian and Western authors. The extracts include poems, short stories, essays, and speeches, and cover topics such as love, nature, patriotism, and wisdom.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This Scheming World
A Great Classic of Japanese literature and the masterpiece of novelist Ihara Saikaku--now in a completely new and revised edition with introduction by noted scholar David J. Gundry The culmination of Saikaku's perceptive genius, the 20 short stories within This Scheming World recount raucous events and incidents on New Year's Eve as everyone tries to settle their debts for the year, as is the New Year's custom. Crafty money lenders attempt to collect their money from equally crafty debtors, and Saikaku portrays his characters with so lifelike a touch that, even though three centuries have passed since his time, it seems as if they were our contemporaries. The new Introduction by Saikaku expert David J. Gundry explains how and why this entertaining work still resonates with modern readers today. The finely-crafted tales include stories of: Philanderers who slip off to hide in the homes of their mistressesHustlers who leave town suddenly on "very important" business tripsConnivers who become actors for a day to hide-in-plain-sight on stage"The New Year's Eve is more precious than a thousand pieces of gold. It is the Great Divide between winter and spring, which none can pass over without copper and silver." --Ihara Saikaku
Yexian
First recorded in China in the ninth century, Yexian is considered by some to be the earliest version of the familiar Cinderella tale in the world.In this mini-book, you will find the history and background of this charming story as well as a new retelling. This is the first in a series of little-known fairy tales and their histories with summaries, rewrites, and history published for storytellers, researchers, and fairy tale enthusiasts alike.
Primary Sources, Historical Collections
This collection of primary sources on Chinese literature includes translations of classic works like The Analects of Confucius and The Sayings of Mencius, along with scholarly analysis and historical context. With a foreword by T.S. Wentworth, this book is an essential resource for anyone interested in the rich literary tradition of China.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Primary Sources, Historical Collections
This collection of charming stories captures the rich cultural history and traditions of Japan in the nineteenth century.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Joginder Paul
This book is a comprehensive volume on the life and works of Joginder Paul, a well-known Urdu fiction writer and thinker. It presents a selection from the writer's oeuvre - a few of his short stories, extracts from his long fiction, samples of his micro-fiction, personal reminiscences, and some of his incisive critical essays written in Urdu as well as in English that lay out his ideas on the role of the writer and the art of writing. The volume also contextualises his work within the Urdu literary tradition and beyond through some critical essays on him from across time and geography. It situates Paul as a notable fiction writer and an essayist who broke convention in his writing and crafted his own individual style. It shows how he was received in Urdu while also placing him as an important creative voice within a larger pan-Indian literary context.The book also focuses on Paul's efforts to effect a change in how fiction should be perceived, particularly by his readers who he considered the most important ally-participant in his effort to create stories. This volume will help to evolve a deeper understanding of the thematic subtleties in his fiction, as well as the critical perspectives he offers in his non-fiction.Part of the Writer in Context series, this book will be indispensable to scholars and researchers in literature, history, sociology, language and creative writing, Partition studies, translation studies, Indian writings, Urdu literature, postcolonial studies, and South Asian Studies.
Primary Sources, Historical Collections
Zabelle C. Boyajian's collection of Armenian legends and poems offers a fascinating glimpse into the rich heritage of this ancient and culturally rich nation. From heroic legends of ancient gods and warriors to lyrical poems of love and loss, this volume is an essential addition to any collection of world literature.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
I will follow Zulfiya
This book "I will follow Zulfiya" is a collection of Poetry and Prose by Oringaliyeva Nurjayna Orazgaliyevna, a Russian student and Author from Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan. She is the winner of the school, city and republic stages of the Uzbek language Olympiad as well as got 1st place in the contest 'Young Reader' held by the Ministry of Public Education of Uzbekistan and the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan.
Primary Sources, Historical Collections
Delve into the history of Armenian literature through this comprehensive catalogue of manuscripts housed in the Bodleian Library. The book provides detailed descriptions and in-depth analysis of each manuscript, shedding light on the richness of Armenian literary culture.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
A Topsy-Turvy World
Playwriting in many forms flourished during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Shorter theatrical genres in particular offered playwrights opportunities for experimentation with both dramatic form and social critique. Despite their originality and wit, these short plays have been overshadowed by the lengthy masterpieces of the southern drama tradition. A Topsy-Turvy World presents English translations of shorter sixteenth-to-eighteenth-century plays, spotlighting a lesser-known side of Chinese drama. Satirical and often earthy, these mostly one-act plays depict deceit, dissembling, reversed gender roles, and sudden upending of fortunes. With zest and humor, they portray henpecked husbands, supercilious and lustful monks, all-too-human sage kings, disgruntled officials, and overreaching young scholars. These plays provide a glimpse of Chinese daily life and mores even as they question or subvert the boundaries of social, moral, and political order. Each translation is preceded by a short introduction that describes the play's author, context, formal qualities, and textual history. A Topsy-Turvy World offers a new view of a significant period in the development of the Chinese theatrical tradition and provides insight into the role of drama as cultural critique.
Yexian
First recorded in China in the ninth century, Yexian is considered by some to be the earliest version of the familiar Cinderella tale in the world.In this mini-book, you will find the history and background of this charming story as well as a new retelling. This is the first in a series of little-known fairy tales and their histories with summaries, rewrites, and history published for storytellers, researchers, and fairy tale enthusiasts alike.
