East Asian Literature?

[Raaksha]

I'm studying literature from India, Africa, Russia, the US, England and the rest of Europe - but for some reason my undergraduate syllabus hasn't included any work by East Asian authors - that is, from Japan, China, Korea etc.

Could you please recommend some good literature from East Asian countries (indigenous or classic works preferably)? Is it difficult to find English translations of these works? An Amazon link or an e-book download link would be really appreciated (since it's hard to find these books in bookstores around here).

[OrphanPip]

Japanese literature is pretty widely translated. The Tale of Genji, Kokoro, and Confessions of a Mask are all pretty widely available in English.

[JBI]

Columbia has put out rather meaty anthologies of Japanese literature and Chinese Literature, Hawaii has put out anthologies of Korean literature.

As for translators and translations, Japanese authors have benefited from one of the best researched, best translated, and best funded series of translations in English history. Starting from the 40s, the US government dumped tons of cash into the translation of Japanese texts, which resulted in some of the best translations imaginable.

As for Chinese, it has been hit and miss. Much of the prose works alright in English, but the poetry is rather dry. Walley was good in his translation of the Classic of Poetry (Book of Odes), and a few others have been ok, but much is still lost. The power of Chinese poetry is the interplay of short phrases and ideas in an organized formulaic pattern - it is more a tradition of building through blocks than of inventing new shapes - and as such, it is almost completely lost in English. The closest thing we have are two anthologies, one scholarly and one not so much - How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology (Cai, Zong-qi ed.) and Sunflower Splendor, which is an anthology of various translators, many of them quite good.

Outside those main texts, there are some others. Burton Watson's Translations from Japanese and Chinese are still quite readable and enjoyable. Stephen Owen's Anthology of Chinese Literature (Norton) is not a bad text either. Major plays and novels have also been widely translated, though they are not easily accessible texts (Yuan drama is an extremely difficult genre of literature, and expects a familiar understanding with a particular culture).

The Confucian canon is almost completely available online, as well as many other fundamental texts - look for Legge's work on the canon, as well as Walley's work. Though to be honest, you will need probably to read Sources of the Chinese Tradition (De Barys) to get a good grasp of the philosophical contexts of these works, or read Ebrey's Book Introduction to East Asian Civilization, which covers all three.

That's the basic sort of background reading a first to second year student of east Asia would have in a western class room. Of course, you can only go so far in translation (not very far to be honest). The actual field of East Asian studies requires a great deal of linguistic as well as background knowledge. Generally a ph.d. student of credibility would be fluent in 1 major language, and have working knowledge in another East Asian language (Chinese or Japanese mainly, unless you study Korea, in which case you need all 3). If you are more specialized you probably will know either Sanskrit, Tibetan, Uighur, Manchu, or Vietnamese, and generally they like people who study language-related topics to know a southern Dialect of Chinese (usually Cantonese and sometimes Taiwanese).

That being said, Chinese literature in translation is rather flat in my opinion, much of the magic is lost - some translators, like Walley, can revive it, and some styles, like Yue Fu, work well in English, but the Tang poems which are regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese poetry are rather flat in English.

As for the novels, the five major novels are all translated, Moss Roberts's Three Kingdoms is the one to get, and Walley's Monkey is a nice abridgment to Journey to the West, Though Anthony C. Yu's is an excellent translation of a somewhat redundant novel. For Dream of the Red Chamber, get the one published under the name The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes, or if you want, get the Dream of Red Chambers out by Penguin, which is an abridgement of this novel. Shapiro's Outlaws of the Marsh is the version to get for Water Margin though other good translations exist. The Plum in the Golden Vase has been well translated by David Tod Roy. The Golden Lotus, a former translation, put the erotic bits into Latin for some reason. As for the rest, get whatever volume you can find, as translations are scarce.

The texts most readily available are the Confucian canon (with a decent free edition courtesy of Legge available online), the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching) which is also widely available in any language anywhere, and a few minor canonical thinkers, all well represented in de Bary's Sources of the Chinese tradition, which has back editions of the same text floating around for very cheap. For more in depth works, you will need to ask specifically, but I doubt you will get passed these texts, as most people give up half way through their first book. The names are off-putting for many, but they do not realize that each Chinese person in those books has two names, which the poor me is forced to memorize (and they use obscure ideographs to write their names too, sigh).

[mortalterror]

A while back I put together a list of Eastern texts I thought would rival the Western Canon.

Various (2400-700BC) Egyptian Book of the Dead
Anonymous (1800BC) Story of Sinuhe
Anonymous (1800BC) Epic of Gilgamesh
Anonymous (1600BC) Enuma Elis
Various (1000-700BC) Book of Odes
Kabti-ilani-Marduk (764BC) Epic of Erra
Vyasa (400BC) Mahabharata
Valmiki (350BC) Ramayana
Qu Yuan (340-278BC) and Song Yu (290-223BC) Chu Ci
Vishnu Sharma (300BC) Panchatantra
Sudraka (150BC) The Little Clay Cart
Various (347-759) Manyoshu
Tao Qian (365-427) Poems
Kalidasa (370-450) Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection, Meghaduta
Bhartrhari (450) Satakatraya
Xu Ling (507-583) New Songs From the Jade Terrace
Various (550) Mu'allaqat
Bharavi (550) Kiratarjuniya
Muhammad (570-632) Quran
Dandin (600) The Adventures of the Ten Princes
Wang Wei (699-759) Poems
Bhavabhuti (700) Málati and Mádhava
Amaru (700) Amarusataka
Li Bai (701-762) Tianmu Mountain Ascended in a Dream
Du Fu (712-770) The Song of the Wagons
Han-shan (730-850) Cold Mountain Poems
Han Yu (768-824) Essays
Bai Juyi (772-846) Song of Unending Sorrow, Song of the Lute Player
Yuan Zhen (779-831) Biography of Ying Ying
Various (800-920) Kokinshu
Various (800-1200) Antar, A Bedoueen Romance
Rudaki (858-941) Lament in Old Age
Various (900-1300) One Thousand and One Nights
Al-Mutanabbi (915-965) Poems
Li Houzhu (937-978) Poems
Ferdowsi (940-1020) Shahnameh
Sei Shonagon (966-1017) The Pillow Book
Al-Ma'arri (973-1058) The Spark of Flint
Murasaki Shikibu (973-1025) Tale of Genji
Nasir Khusraw (1004-1088) Poems
Su Shi (1037-1101) Poems
Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) Rubaiyat
Vidyakara (1050-1130) Treasury of Verses
Moses Ibn Ezra (1055-1138) Diwan
Judah Halevi (1075-1141) Poems
Li Qingzhao (1084-1151) Poems
Mahadeviyakka (1100) Poems
Khaqani (1121-1190) Gift of the Two Iraqs
Anvari (1126-1189) Tears of Khorasan
Nezami (1141-1209) Khamsa
Attar (1145-1221) Conference of the Birds
Kamban (1150) Ramavataram
Sa'di (1184-1283) Gulistan, Bostan
Jayadeva (1200) Gita Govinda
Rumi (1207-1273) Masnavi
Fakhruddin Iraqi (1213-1289) Divine Flashes
Guan Hanqing (1225-1302) Injustice to Dou E
Bai Renfu (1226-1306) Rain on the Paulownia Tree
Wang Shifu (1250-1307) Romance of the Western Chamber
Ma Zhiyuan (1250-1321) Autumn in Han Palace
Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) Second Divan
Yoshida Kenko (1283-1350) Essays in Idleness
Shi Nai'an (1296-1372) Water Margin
Ubayd Zakani (1300-1370) Ethics of the Aristocrats
Kakuichi (1300-1371) The Tale of the Heike
Gao Zecheng (1305-1368) Romance of the Lute
Hafez (1329-1380) Divan
Luo Guanzhong (1330-1400) Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Jami (1414-1492) Haft Awrang
Kabir (1440-1518) Songs
Ali-Shir Nava'i (1441-1501) Poetry
Fuzuli (1483-1556) Diwan
Wu Cheng'en (1500-1582) Journey To the West
Baki (1526-1600) Elegy for His Excellency Suleyman Khan
Tulsidas (1532-1623) The Ramcharitmanasa
Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) The Peony Pavilion
Feng Menglong (1574-1645) Stories to Awaken the World
Sa'ib (1601-1677) The Campaign Against Qandahar
Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (1610) Jin Ping Mei
Pu Songling (1640-1715) Strange Tales From a Chinese Studio
Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) Narrow Road to the Deep North
Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) The Battles of Coxinga
Takeda Izumo (1691-1756) Chushingura
Wu Jingzi (1701-1754) The Scholars
Cao Xueqin (1715-1763) Dream of The Red Chamber
Yuan Mei (1716-1798) Poems
Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) Ghazals
Nguyen Gia Thieu (1741-1798) Sorrows of an Abandoned Queen
Ryokan Taigu (1758-1831) Haiku
Shen Fu (1763-1825) Six Records of a Floating Life
Nguyen Du (1766-1820) The Tale of Kieu
Ho Xuan Huong (1772-1822) Water-Bailing
Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) Ghazals
Bibi Hayati (1853) Poems
Qa'ani (1808-1854) Elegy for Imam Hussein
Liu E (1857-1909) The Travels of Lao Ts'an
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Gitanjali
Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) Kokoro
Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) Wings of Gabriel
Lu Xun (1881-1936) Ah Q - The Real Story
Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) The Prophet
Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) The Makioka Sisters
Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) The Hell Screen
Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) Snow Country
Sadegh Hedayat (1903-1951) The Blind Owl
R.K. Narayan (1906-2001) The Financial Expert
Qian Zhongshu (1910-1998) Fortress Besieged
Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) The Sea of Fertility
Adunis (1930-) Mihyar of Damascus: His Songs
V.S. Naipaul (1932-) A House For Mr. Biswas
Salman Rushdie (1947-) Midnight's Children
Haruki Murakami (1949-) The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
Orhan Pamuk (1952-) My Name is Red
Khaled Hosseini (1965-) The Kite Runner

JBI is the boards expert on Chinese literature so I'd take his advice for the most part. The Columbia book is a great beginner book and it has a little of everything in it, but the translations are not as good as you will find for individual works elsewhere. I agree down the line with JBI on the five classic novels. Those are the translations I own, except I got a great deal on the Golden Lotus set and picked it up for 18 dollars at a used bookstore. Also, I got the Pearl S. Buck(the Nobel prize winner) translation of Outlaws of the Marsh which she titled All Men Are Brothers and I'm pretty happy with that.

[mortalterror]

Also, it is a real pain trying to find anything out of Korea or Vietnam in English, but I just picked up a copy of The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du and so far I'm loving it. Here's the beginning:


A hundred years -- in this life span on earth,
how apt to clash, talent and destiny!
Men's fortunes change even as nature shifts-
the sea now rolls where mulberry fields grew.
One watches things that make one sick at heart.
This is the law: no gain without a loss,
and Heaven hurts fair women for sheer spite.

By lamplight turn these scented leaves and read
a tale of love recorded in old books.
Once, when Chia-ch'ing sat on the throne of Ming,
all lived in peace- both Capitals were safe.
In the Vuong clan there was an alderman
of modest wealth and station in the world.
He had a last-born son, Vuong Quan- his hope
to carry on a line of learned folk.
Two girls, both beautiful, had come before:
Thuy Kieu the elder, the younger Thuy Van.
Lissome of body, pure of soul, each girl
was her own self and perfect in her way.
In dignity, Van was beyond compare-
her face a moon, her eyebrows two full curves;
her smile a flower, her voice the sound of jade;
her hair the sheen of clouds, her skin like snow.
Yet Kieu possessed a keener, deeper charm-
she excelled Van in talent and in looks.
Her eyes were autumn streams, her brows spring hills.
The flowers and willows envied her fresh hue.
A glance or two from her, and cities rocked!
Supreme in loveliness, she had few peers
in skills and arts. By Heaven graced with wit,
she learned to rhyme and paint, and she could sing.
In music she had mastered all five tones
and played the lute far better than Ai Chang.
She had composed a tune called 'Cruel Fate'
to mourn all women in soul-rending strains.
No girl of gentle birth could rival Kieu.
In the spring flush of youth she neared that time
when maidens pinned their hair in solemn rites.
Still sheltered, she was kept behind drawn drapes.
Outside the Eastern wall, her suitors swarmed
like bees and butterflies left unseen.

I also found in a slim book of Vietnamese poetry this excerpt from Nguyen Gia Thieu's Sorrows of an Abandoned Queen:


You were a fool, Old Man of the Moon,
to tie the knot making me an imperial concubine.
Still. . .such unspeakable delights that first night!
To what shall I compare it?
Sunlight gently sporting with the do-mi flower?
A peony unfolding to a long-awaited shower?
An apple blossom awakened to love on a spring night?
Or petals on a spring bough softly smiling
as the winter breeze turns away from the plum trees?
Ah, those rainbow dresses rustling in the wind,
those feather-coats dancing, glistening under the moon,
all in harmony with the music and song!
Mattresses stuffed with kingfisher down, exhaling perfume of musk,
jewels at my waist flashing with moonlight!
Only a few drops of rain: The peony swayed
in the Pavilion of Perfume.
Then the pure lute notes in the Green Hall,
the wailing flutes in the Red Floor Room,
each melody more intoxicating than the last,
more searing, more shattering to the mind!
Magnificent eyebrows beside a dragon figure:
What a beautiful couple we were!
The flower thanked Heaven for his grace;
willingly she accepted the name of Beauty.

Day in, day out, I was close to my shining Prince,
waited on him in the morning, served him in the afternoon.
The Moon-viewing Pavilion: nothing but tender embraces.
The Royal Palace: nothing but laughter, caresses in the snow.
My cheeks needed no potions to entrance:
Kings would give kingdoms, generals their castles.
Musicians would play "Night Stroll" in the Imperial Garden"
or "Palace Flower" on the Spring Approach Terrace
while I slept in my glory,
the imperial colors blazing under the moon.
And oh, within the screens, his awesome majesty shone
and every moment was bliss.
Gold coins by the thousands
would not buy a spring dream by his side.

Now I wander in cinnamon walls
through the night's five watches, gradually despairing.
In night rain at the Moon-waiting Pavilion I pace,
toss through the dark hours on the Cool Wind Terrace.
Copper-cold are the inner rooms,
smashed the phoenix mirror,
shredded the bonds of love.
I wander in a dull dream,
my mind is lost.

Tonight the wind is cold, rain thuds
on the banana leaves as the hours crawl.
A firefly flickers on the wall.
The screens are dew-soaked, the lights dim.
The clock goes full circle but my eyes never close;
the weight of solitude falls, crushes my heart.
What words will ever describe this?
In one night a million memories invade my brain.
Soon the sun will leave my window.
When will it end, this perfume-and-powder life?
What if he comes again?
Will I still be beautiful?

[ralfyman]

Try the "East Asia" and "General 'Asian' or 'Oriental'" sections in this site:

http://mason.gmu.edu/~ayadav/anthologies

Also, I think A Treasury of Asian Literature: Arabia, India, China, and Japan (ed. John Yohannen) is readily available.

[caddy_caddy]

Muhammad (570-632) Quran

YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO USE THE QURAN AS U THINK IT IS SINCE IT BELONGS TO MUSLIMS NOT YOU!!

Quran is not A LITERARY WORK TO PUT IT IN YOUR LIST . Muhammad is not his author!!!

Even in wikipedia they define Quran as religious poetry !!! You have no right to define things according to your own interpretations. You should define it as Muslims do since it's their book not yours!!!

[Lykren]

I know nothing of East Asian literature compared to the other posters here, but I have read the Tale of Genji and enjoyed it immensely (especially in the Tyler translation). I've also enjoyed some of Rexroth's translations of Japanese poetry, but I have no idea whether those are at all accurate.

[Pierre Menard]

Muhammad (570-632) Quran

YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO USE THE QURAN AS U THINK IT IS SINCE IT BELONGS TO MUSLIMS NOT YOU!!

Quran is not A LITERARY WORK TO PUT IT IN YOUR LIST . Muhammad is not his author!!!

Even in wikipedia they define Quran as religious poetry !!! You have no right to define things according to your own interpretations. You should define it as Muslims do since it's their book not yours!!!


Is this a joke?

No demographic 'owns' any work of literature.

And yes, it is also literature to many. As are The Bible and all other religious texts. They absolutely do have a religious context and significance, but they also have a literary and cultural context as well.

[caddy_caddy]

No, you have no right to impose your own definition on a sacred book that belongs to Muslims( only to Muslims who are responsible of protecting their book) . Having a historical and cultural context is sth that we take into consideration when reading it , but calling it a literary work is sth completely different. when you say it's a literary work you mean it's a work written by a man ( Muhammad ) and you are dealing with it as you deal with any other work written by a human being. That means you are ignoring intentionally what Muslims define as a sacred book that speaks the words of God not any man .

[JBI]

No, you have no right to impose your own definition on a sacred book that belongs to Muslims( only to Muslims who are responsible of protecting their book) . Having a historical and cultural context is sth that we take into consideration when reading it , but calling it a literary work is sth completely different. when you say it's a literary work you mean it's a work written by a man ( Muhammad ) and you are dealing with it as you deal with any other work written by a human being. That means you are ignoring intentionally what Muslims define as a sacred book that speaks the words of God not any man .

That is true. Religious Jews also believe the old Testament is the words of God, and Sacred. Yet how many people read it as literature? Your difference is that somehow what is sacred to Muslims must be restricted to Muslim interpretation. My quibble is simple - we are not Muslim, we have a different interpretation, you are choosing to believe it as word of god, and dismiss our interpretation on those grounds. That is mere hypocrisy, but with your religious interpretation, any excuses will be made. To be honest, I thought you were trolling at first, now I am not sure what kind of weird game you are playing.

Either way the Quran is not East Asian literature, though it has had an oblique influence on a remote area of Northern China, and Southern China (though not much on a literary level). So, in order to stop this thread from derailing, I would request subsequent posters to stop commenting on the Quran, and to stop responding to the weird poster who decided, without being provoked, to invite an assault on the posters who disagree with him/her (is this merely because Mortal included the Quran on his essential works of world literature?).

Lets bring the thread back to East Asia, and merely ignore these controversial and divisive comments. Someone wants to know what to read from East Asia, we do not need to heed someone who asserts that one has no right to interpret a Middle-Eastern text, it is both offtopic and controversial.

[Pierre Menard]

Mortalterror (or anyone), do you have a recommendation for a specific translation/edition of the Mahabharata, Ramayana and other Indian epics?

I've always tossed up on which ones to go with, as I know some are abridged as well.

[caddy_caddy]

That is true. Religious Jews also believe the old Testament is the words of God, and Sacred. Yet how many people read it as literature? Your difference is that somehow what is sacred to Muslims must be restricted to Muslim interpretation. My quibble is simple - we are not Muslim, we have a different interpretation, you are choosing to believe it as word of god, and dismiss our interpretation on those grounds. That is mere hypocrisy, but with your religious interpretation, any excuses will be made. To be honest, I thought you were trolling at first, now I am not sure what kind of weird game you are playing.

Either way the Quran is not East Asian literature, though it has had an oblique influence on a remote area of Northern China, and Southern China (though not much on a literary level). So, in order to stop this thread from derailing, I would request subsequent posters to stop commenting on the Quran, and to stop responding to the weird poster who decided, without being provoked, to invite an assault on the posters who disagree with him/her (is this merely because Mortal included the Quran on his essential works of world literature?).

Lets bring the thread back to East Asia, and merely ignore these controversial and divisive comments. Someone wants to know what to read from East Asia, we do not need to heed someone who asserts that one has no right to interpret a Middle-Eastern text, it is both offtopic and controversial.

You are mixing up things my dear. I objected to the categorization of the Quran . You can read it as you read literature , but not defining as a literature. When you define , Samsara, Nirvana , Maya you should refer to the Bhuddist in your definition . When I want to write a paper about the Mormons , I should refer to them how they define the Book of Mormons. Interpretations belong to you, but definitions belong to the definer. And you are an academic and you know exactly what I mean.

[mortalterror]

Mortalterror (or anyone), do you have a recommendation for a specific translation/edition of the Mahabharata, Ramayana and other Indian epics?

I've always tossed up on which ones to go with, as I know some are abridged as well.

Sure, this one by Kisari Mohan Ganguli. You can download it for free to your Nook or Kindle here: http://archive.org/details/TheMahabharataOfKrishna-dwaipayanaVyasa . I haven't seen a good version of the Ramayana yet. Kalidasa's Cloud Messenger is available at Sacred-texts http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sha/sha17.htm Also, Kalidasa's Birth of the War God is available here http://archive.org/details/thebirthofthewar31968gut . I'm not really sure which translation of Bhartrhari's Satakatraya I read but chances are you'll find it at archive.org if you search. There seem to be a couple of good ones there all published around the beginning of the last century. For the Bhagavad Gita I heartily recommend Sir Edwin Arnold's translation available from Dover, which can also be downloaded here http://archive.org/details/songcelestialor01arnogoog . Arnold also beautifully translated Jayadeva's Gita Govinda which you will find in The Indian Song of Songs http://archive.org/details/indiansongsongs00arnogoog . I can't recommend a translation of Bharavi because I've only read fragments of his work from Vidyakara's Treasury but what I read was fantastic. Dandin's novel was translated by Arthur W. Ryder as The Ten Princes. Bhavabhuti's Málati and Mádhava can be downloaded here http://archive.org/details/selectspecimens01wilsgoog as Select Specimens of the Theater of the Hindus vol. 2. Amaru's love lyrics are available from The Clay Sanskrit Library http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org/volume-v-8.html . Pretty sure I read the Daniel Ingall's translation of Vidyakara's Treasury. Kabir's Songs are available in the Rabindranath Tagore translation from Dover Books or online at sacred-texts http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sok/index.htm . Haven't found a good copy of Tulsidas. I read some poems of Mirza Ghalib in Robert Bly's recent translation and they were terrible. Tagore's Gitanjali is available from Dover Books with a foreward by W.B. Yeats. And you can read Gabriel's Wing by Iqbal here http://www.allamaiqbal.com/works/poetry/urdu/bal/translation/index.htm . I think that covers all the Indian writers I recommended except for Mahadeviyakka and I don't remember where I stumbled across her anymore.

[lawpark]

For Ghalib, Frances Prichett has an online site for all his Urdu Ghazals:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ghalib/index.html

For Mahabharata and Ramayana, has anyone read the version from (the now bankrupt) Clay Sanskrit Library?

[Pierre Menard]

...


Cheers. Will check 'em out!