That other side of the world

Over the past few years I've begun to read bits and pieces of Asian/'Eastern' literature, generally the typical stuff offered up as a guideline (the 4 'Chinese classics', poetry anthologies like the Manyoshu, a few of the Sanskrit epics, tale of Genji and the more well known contemporaries). The enjoyment I got out of this lead me to want to explore more of the continent's literature.

So, if anyone has done the same, how did you go about it? What originally drew you, and how much did you get out of it?

I guess I never realised how comparatively easy it is to get to grips with western literature when born into that culture. We have a general idea as to where to go instilled in us through our life but with this we don't have that base.

Thanks

Begin as you would any body of art you know little or nothing about. Do a little research. You could even begin with Wikipedia... but certainly other sources as well. JBI will undoubtedly show up here soon enough to direct you through Chinese literature... although his preferences lean more toward the heavy academic tomes than the translations that are simply pleasurable to read as literature. My preferences lean more toward Japanese and Middle-Eastern literature (Persian, Arabic, Moorish, Mughal Indian). Starting points would surely include the Tao Te Ching, the poetry of Tu Fu, Li Bai, Wang Wei, anthologies of Chinese poetry from the Sung and Tang dynasties, an anthology of Japanese poetry, the Qur'an, the Arabian Night's Entertainments, Firdowsi's Shanameh, Hafez, Rumi, Farid ud-Din Attar's Parliament of Birds, Nezami's Khamsa (especially the section on Layla and Manjun), the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, an anthology of Persian and Arabic poetry, etc...

I was drawn to Persian and Middle-Eastern literature and that of Japan as a result of an insatiable curiosity... but also as a result of the fact that I was already fascinated with these cultures as a result of my explorations as an artist of their contributions to the visual arts, calligraphy, and architecture. What do I get out of it? The same thing I gain from all literature: a certain pleasure. Certainly, I also gain a greater understanding of cultures beyond my own (as well as a different perspective on my own culture). I might suggest that considering the political realities of the Middle-East and the economic growth of Asia, it is increasingly foolish not to further explore the works of art that are central to these cultures.

There is a good book out now on the Late Tang by Stephen Owen which is worth checking out, as well as a very interesting book edited by Wilt Idema and somebody else called The Red Brush that deals with women writers and literary figures in Imperial China, with fantastic excerpts from all sorts of interesting genres.

Pretty much, if you flip through Columbia university's publications on East Asia, they are all for the most part very well put together, and have very good scholarship attached to them. The large tombs on Japan are rather good.


For a different side of the world, Peter Cole's translation of Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol is a very good volume of poetry, especially if you aesthetic pushes toward the Borgesian/Eco-style expansionism that we originally associate with Kafka and Gershom Sholem - there is also another great anthology The Dreams of the Poem also translated by Peter Cole which is certainly worth checking out, and its notes and annotations are absolutely gorgeous.

Waley's translation of the Shi Jing, book of Songs is also a must have I think, especially if you like the sort of natural, lyric qualities found in things like Ancient Greek and Arabic verse. But really, just find a good library, look up the call number on Chinese literature, or Japanese literature and just look around until something catches your eye. That is what I do most of the time, and it leads to wonderful results.

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Originally Posted by EndSarcasm

Over the past few years I've begun to read bits and pieces of Asian/'Eastern' literature, generally the typical stuff offered up as a guideline (the 4 'Chinese classics', poetry anthologies like the Manyoshu, a few of the Sanskrit epics, tale of Genji and the more well known contemporaries). The enjoyment I got out of this lead me to want to explore more of the continent's literature.

So, if anyone has done the same, how did you go about it? What originally drew you, and how much did you get out of it?

I guess I never realised how comparatively easy it is to get to grips with western literature when born into that culture. We have a general idea as to where to go instilled in us through our life but with this we don't have that base.

Thanks

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Roger Teeter, a librarian, has a website which collects "lists of great literature" (including the one with Bloom's list that so many people link to here). He put up his own reading list for China, which has a lot of titles that you may want to consider.

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Originally Posted by Drkshadow03

Roger Teeter, a librarian, has a website which collects "lists of great literature" (including the one with Bloom's list that so many people link to here). He put up his own reading list for China, which has a lot of titles that you may want to consider.

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It's an interesting list, and it's nice to see one of my professors up there, but those translations are rather old, and better ones now exist for a lot of them - the list doesn't really take into account the last 20-30 years of translation.

Big thanks to all, certainly a bunch of stuff for me to look at. Only a few months more and my library situation improves vastly, guess I'll rely on the local for now.