Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The historical background
- 2 The fu in the Six Dynasties
- 3 ‘The Lament for the South’
- 4 Commentary
- Appendix I Historical and biographical sources
- Appendix II Yü Hsin's career
- Appendix III Editions and commentaries
- Appendix IV The date of the ‘Lament’
- Appendix V Yü Hsin and Ssu-ma Ch'ien
- Appendix VI Two Sui shu anecdotes
- Appendix VII Genealogy
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Character glossary
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The historical background
- 2 The fu in the Six Dynasties
- 3 ‘The Lament for the South’
- 4 Commentary
- Appendix I Historical and biographical sources
- Appendix II Yü Hsin's career
- Appendix III Editions and commentaries
- Appendix IV The date of the ‘Lament’
- Appendix V Yü Hsin and Ssu-ma Ch'ien
- Appendix VI Two Sui shu anecdotes
- Appendix VII Genealogy
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Character glossary
- Index
Summary
I began work on Yü Hsin in 1970 and submitted a thesis on the ‘Lament’ to Harvard University as part of the requirements for a Ph.D. degree in 1974. Some portions of that thesis, much revised, are included in this book. The ‘Lament’ turned out to be a good deal more difficult than anticipated; convinced that it must make more sense than it seemed to, I spent the four years of thesis work, and much of the time since then, reading Six-Dynasties history and literature. Professor J. R. Hightower, my thesis director, patiently read and corrected a number of drafts, and Dr. Achilles Fang, who had tried for years to teach me classical Chinese, also agreed to act as a reader of the thesis. I would like to record my indebtedness to both of them. Professor Hightower has also gone over various drafts of this book and suggested many improvements; to him the work is dedicated. A number of others have discussed the ‘Lament’ with me or read the draft in whole or in part, they include Professors Florence Chao, Francis Cleaves, Patrick Hanan, William Hung, Yan-shuan Lao, T. Y. Li, Denis Twitchett, J. T. Wixted, L. S. Yang, and Y. S. Yü. Mr. George Potter and Miss Deborah White of the Harvard- Yenching Library have very kindly helped me to obtain books.
It seems particularly appropriate that a book on the ‘Lament’ should appear at this time; according to the theory of the late Professor Ch'en Yia-k'o, 1978 would be the fourteen-hundredth anniversary of the writing of the ‘Lament’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- 'The Lament for the South'Yu Hsin's 'Ai Chiang-Nan Fu', pp. vii - viiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1980