Brocade River Poems: Selected Works of the Tang Dynasty Courtesan (The Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation)

Many of the poems here are not that great but there are a few gems that I need to read again and again. Plus there is so little representation of women's voices from the Tang Dynasty everyone into Tang poetry should check this book out. Read "The Clouds Float North" translated by David Young first because that woman was a much better poet (as good as any Tang poet I've read) Then read this book for other viewpoints. Although this is a bilingual edition in traditional characters the print is so small and glopped up (filled in) only about half of the Chinese Characters can actually be read. This is quite frustrating but better than nothing .

Tang Era poetry is more than Du Fu and Li Po. The famous, "Three Hundred Tang Poems" focus on the men of the era, Jeanne Larsen in this book and "Willow, Wine, Mirror, Moon: Women's Poems from Tang China" show that there is more to Tang era poetry than what men wrote. Translating poetry is never an easy task. I have enjoyed many quiet moments thinking about Xue Tao. Professor Larsen's novels, set in Tang and Manchu era China are also well worth the time spent.In that era men with government positions were moved from one section of China to another with very little notice and according to the needs to whatever official the position reported to; hence Xue Tao's poems on a friend's departure, probably never to be seen again are masterworks of joy and sadness.

Xue Tao, insieme a Yu Xuanji, è una delle poetesse più famose della dinastia Tang. Questo volume raccoglie molte poesie divise in varie sezioni, fra cui quelle dedicate al periodo di concubinato e successivamente al periodo in cui Xue Tao si avvicina al Taoismo. La lettura è interessante, anche perché le poesie (con l'aiuto delle note) offrono un panorama di quella che è stata la condizione della donna cinese nell'Ottocento. Il testo presenta una pecca per gli studiosi della lingua cinese: il testo dovrebbe essere un'edizione bilingue cinese- inglese, ma in realtà i caratteri cinesi sono talmente piccoli che non si riescono nemmeno a leggere, quindi le poesie possono essere soltanto lette in traduzione.