Research Catalog

Title

Du Fu : a life in poetry / translated by David Young.

Author

Du, Fu, 712-770

Publication

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Young, David, 1936-

Description

xvii, 226 p. : map; 21 cm.

Summary

"Du Fu (712-770) is one of the undisputed geniuses of Chinese poetry - still universally admired and read thirteen centuries after his death. Now David Young, author of Black Lab, and well known as a translator of Chinese poets, gives us a sparkling new translation of Du Fu's verse, arranged to give us a tour of the life, each "chapter" of poems preceded by an introductory paragraph that situates us in place, time, and circumstance. What emerges is a portrait of a modest yet great artist, an ordinary man moving and adjusting as he must in troubled times, while creating a startling, timeless body of work." "Du Fu wrote poems that engaged his contemporaries and widened the path of the lyric poet. As his society - one of the world's great civilizations - slipped from a golden age into chaos, he wrote of the uncertain course of empire, the misfortunes and pleasures of his own family, the hard lives of ordinary people, the changing seasons, and the lives of creatures who shared his environment. As the poet chases chickens around the yard, observes tear streaks on his wife's cheek, or receives a gift of some shallots from a neighbor, Young's rendering brings Du Fu's voice naturally and elegantly to life."--book jacket.

Uniform Title

Poems. Selections. English

Alternative Title

Poems.

Subjects

• Translations
• Poetry
• Du, Fu, 712-770 > Translations into English

Genre/Form

Translations

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-226).

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

ISBN

• 0375711600
• 9780375711602

LCCN

^^2008016773

OCLC

• 212856202
• SCSB-12408349

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library