{"product_id":"9789629969301","title":"Chinese Rhyme-Prose","description":"\u003cb\u003eSelected as one of the sixty-five masterpieces for the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe \u003ci\u003efu\u003c\/i\u003e,  or rhyme-prose, is a major poetic form in Chinese literature, most  popular between the 2nd century b.c. and 6th century a.d. Unlike what is  usually considered Chinese poetry, it is a hybrid of prose and rhymed  verse, more expansive than the condensed lyrics, verging on what might  be called Whitmanesque. The thirteen long poems included here are  descriptions of and meditations on such subjects as mountains and  abandoned cities, the sea and the wind, owls and goddesses, partings and  the idle life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBurton Watson is universally considered the  foremost English-language translator of classical Chinese and Japanese  literature for the past five decades. Gary Snyder calls him a “great and  graceful scholar,” and Robert Aitken has written that “Burton Watson is  a superb translator because he knows what literature is.” Here his  seemingly effortless translations are accompanied by a comprehensive  introduction to the development and characteristics of the \u003ci\u003efu \u003c\/i\u003eform,  as well as excerpts from contemporary commentary on the genre. A  path-breaking study of pre-modern Chinese literature and an essential  volume for poetry readers, the book has been out of print for decades.  For this edition, Lucas Klein has provided a preface that considers both  the fu form and Watson’s extraordinary work as a whole.","brand":"New York Review Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47185099555056,"sku":"9789629969301","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9789629969301_p0.jpg?v=1763680875","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9789629969301","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}