Writing Another’s Dream

📖 The Scoop

This is the first full-length study of the poetry of Wen Tingyun (ca. 812-ca. 866), a major writer of the Late Tang. Though modern Chinese literary history has generally perceived Wen as an innovator of the song (ci), this study argues that he only gains full stature when his lyric poetry (shi) is examined. In such an examination, he emerges as the near equal of his great contemporaries Li Shangyin and Du Mu and as a powerful representative of the spirit of his age.
The author discusses Wen's relationship with the world of popular music and traces how his musical ballads are to some extent the natural conclusion of developments in popular song throughout the Tang dynasty - these developments working themselves out in the shi genre rather than the still obscure ci. Wen's ballads exhibit an explicit eroticism that betrays his familiarity with courtesan circles in the great urban centers. These influences allow him to create a sensual, sophisticated style that takes pleasure in the surface of things.
Wen was equally innovative in other areas, notably the exploration of historical themes. His aestheticization of the historical past marks a clear break with his poetic predecessors, who drew upon the past largely as a source for moral instruction. Wen's historical verse instead demonstrates a fascination with overt fictionality and the creation of purely imaginary scenes. The author also examines Wen's occasional social verse and places it in the context of Late Tang poetry circles. Here, Wen shows himself as the witty urbane protege of the great, ornamenting their banquets and parties with clever verse and sallies of wit.
Though the book focuses on a single poet, it takes larger poetic developments as its context and locates Wen within the cultural and literary changes of the early to mid-800's, a period of poetic experimentation and innovation. It contains translations of more than 60 of Wen's poems, most of which appear in English for the first time, and it examines the world of other poets in his milieu. In sum, the book not only introduces Wen's work to the Western reader, it also provides new ways for exploring the phenomena of the world of Late Tang poetry.

Genre: Poetry / Asian / General (fancy, right?)