TheZuo Tradition / ZuozhuanReader: Selections from Chinaâ s Earliest Narrative History

Stephen Durrant

ISBN 10: 0295747757 / ISBN 13: 9780295747750

Published by University of Washington Press, 2020

About this Item

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Seller Inventory # B9780295747750

Bibliographic Details

• Title: TheZuo Tradition / ZuozhuanReader: Selections from Chinaâ s Earliest Narrative History
• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0295747757
• ISBN 13: 9780295747750
• Binding: Paperback / softback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Essential passages from a classic Chinese history, organized topically, introduced, and annotated

Zuo Tradition, China's first great work of history, was completed by about 300 BCE and recounts events during a period of disunity from 722 to 468 BCE. The text, which plays a foundational role in Chinese culture, has been newly translated into English by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg in an unabridged, bilingual, three-volume set.

This reader arranges key passages from that set according to topic, as a guide to the study of early Chinese culture and thought. Chapter subjects include succession struggles; women; warfare; ritual propriety; governance; law and punishment; famous statesmen; diplomacy; Confucius and his disciples; dreams and anomalies; and cultural others. An introduction explains the nature and significance of Zuozhuan and discusses how to read the text. Section introductions and judicious footnoting provide contextual information and explain the historical significance and meaning of particular events. The Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan Reader will appeal to readers interested in Chinese and world history, claiming a place on library and personal bookshelves alongside other narratives from the ancient world.

About the Authors

Stephen Durrant is professor emeritus of Chinese language and literature, University of Oregon. He is the author of The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian (State University of New York Press, 1995); coauthor of The Siren and the Sage: Knowledge and Wisdom in Ancient Greece and China (Cassell, 2000); cotranslator of Zuo Traditions / Zuozhuan (University of Washington Press, 2017); and coeditor of Early China / Ancient Greece: Thinking through Comparisons (State University of New York Press, 2002).

Wai-yee Li is professor of Chinese literature at Harvard University. She is the author of The Readability of the Past in Early Chinese Historiography (Harvard University Asia Center, 2007) and Women and National Trauma in Late Imperial Chinese Literature (Harvard University Asia Center, 2014); cotranslator of Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan (University of Washington Press, 2016); and coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (1000 BCE-900 CE) (Oxford University Press, 2017).

David Schaberg is professor of Asian languages and culture and dean of humanities at UCLA. He is the author of A Patterned Past: Form and Thought in Early Chinese Historiography; and cotranslator of Zuo Traditions / Zuozhuan (University of Washington Press, 2017).