The Chinese Essay: An Anthology

Selected and translated by David Pollard

Paper, 372 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-12119-4
$31.50

March, 2000
Cloth, 372 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-12118-7
$83.50

"In keeping with its venerable tradition of publishing scholarship on China, Columbia has produced a groundbreaking work edited by a respected Sinologist and translator. In his lengthy and useful introduction to this collection of essays by 36 Chinese authors, Pollard discusses the important differences between the Western notion of 'essay' and its Chinese version--orsanwen (everything that is not a poem)--which is steeped in the classical school curriculum....Pollard's up-to-date, lucid translations of this specialized form of prose can be read effectively as a companion piece to Elizabeth Buckley Ebrey's sourcebookChinese Civilization and Society (CH, Jul'81) by anyone interested in serious study of Chinese history and culture." — B.M. McNeal, ChoiceSlippery Rock University of Pennsylvnia

"These translations are based on sound scholarship and very wide reading. The pieces that introduce each essay are clear, informative, witty, and memorable. They are aimed at the general reader . . . someone who wants to understand what concerns Chinese authors over the ages have dealt with in essay form, who would like to get an idea of their stylistic approach, who wishes to get an insight into the imaginative processes of a range of fascinating individuals, and who is motivated by a wish to broaden his or her own experience in other literatures." — Denis Twitchett, former professor of Chinese, Cambridge University

Related Subjects

• Asian Literature

About the Author

David Pollard is a veteran scholar of sinology and one of the most respected interpreters and translators of the Chinese essay. He was previously professor of Chinese at the University of London and professor of translation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he coedited Renditions, the Chinese-English translation journal, with his wife, Eva Hung.

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