As writer, Kyun was an inheritor of the Chinese Tang style, becoming one of its first and foremost promulgators in Korea. The poems in this book portray issues of social justice, artistic legacy and purpose, and the daily life of a Korean nobleman in the middle years of Korea's Choson Dynasty. A selection of poems that catalogs the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597-the only record of its kind in poetry. The poems in this book portray issues of social justice, artistic legacy and...

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudius for murdering King Hamlet, Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and taking as his wife Gertrude, the old king's widow and Prince Hamlet's mother. The play vividly portrays both true and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seethin...

Century-old letters tell a story of timeless love in a vanished countryFirst translated by American scholar Elizabeth Cooper in 1914 and published as My Lady of the Chinese Courtyard, this haunting collection of letters was out of print until discovered by bestselling author Eileen Goudge. In its pages she found the story of Kwei-li, a noblewoman of nineteenth-century China.In rich, elegant detail, Kwei-li writes of passionate love for a man whom s...

Only by inhabiting Dao (the Way of Nature) and dwelling in its unity can humankind achieve true happiness and freedom, in both life and death. This is Daoist philosophy's central tenet, espoused by the person—or group of people—known as Zhuangzi (369?–286? BCE) in a text by the same name. To be free, individuals must discard rigid distinctions between right and wrong, and follow a course of action not motivated by gain or striving. When one ceases to judge events as good or bad, man-made s...

Anthony C. Yu’s translation of The Journey to the West,initially published in 1983, introduced English-speaking audiences to the classic Chinese novel in its entirety for the first time. Written in the sixteenth century, The Journey to the West tells the story of the fourteen-year pilgrimage of the monk Xuanzang, one of China’s most famous religious heroes, and his three supernatural disciples, in search of Buddhist scriptures. Throughout his journey, Xuanzang fights demo...

Unmatched in scope and literary quality, this landmark anthology spans three thousand years, bringing together more than six hundred poems by more than one hundred thirty poets, in translations–many new and exclusive to the book–by an array of distinguished translators.Here is the grand sweep of Chinese poetry, from the Book of Songs–ancient folk songs said to have been collected by Confucius himself–and Laozi’s Dao De Jingto the vividly pictorial ...

“If you want to lift yourself to a higher state of consciousness so that the political issues, the family issues, and social issues of the day do not throw you out of balance, so that you can find a happier, more contented life while you’re living here,” says author Harold Klemp, “sing HU, the most beautiful prayer.”This simple prayer, singing HU, will change you. It will open your eyes to see clearly the miracles happening around you every day. You’ll find in this beaut...

A traveling troubadour discovers the secrets of eternal peace on a journey into war-torn Bosnia in this inspiring and spiritual memoir.In 1995, James F. Twyman was ready to risk his life to sing a peace concert in Bosnia. But once inside the country devastated by violence, he discovered an extraordinary secret waiting to be revealed. In a secluded mountainous retreat, he met a mystical community known as the Emissaries of Light. Their message to him changed his lif...

Long considered a masterpiece of the eerie and fantastic, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio is a collection of supernatural-themed tales compiled from ancient Chinese folk stories by Songling Pu in the eighteenth century.These tales of ghosts, magic, vampirism, and other things bizarre and fantastic are an excellent Chinese companion to Lafcadio Hearn's well-known collections of Japanese ghost stories Kwaidan and In Ghostly Japan.

This multicultural children's book presents classic Korean fairy tales and other folk stories—providing a delightful look into a rich literary culture.The Korean people possess a folklore tradition as colorful and captivating as any in the world, but the stories themselves still are not as well-known to Western readers as those from The Brothers Grimm, Mother Goose, or Hans Christian Andersen.In her best-selling book for young readers, Fra...

To any one who would like to look somewhat into the inner soul of the Oriental, and see the peculiar spiritual existences among which he lives, the following stories will serve as true interpreters, born as they are of the three great religions of the Far East, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. An old manuscript copy of Im Bang's stories came into the hands of the translator, and he gives them now to the Western world that they may serve as introductory essays to the mysteries, ...

Du Fu (712–770) is one of the undisputed geniuses of Chinese poetry—still universally admired and read thirteen centuries after his death. Now David Young, author of Black Lab, and well known as a translator of Chinese poets, gives us a sparkling new translation of Du Fu’s verse, arranged to give us a tour of the life, each “chapter” of poems preceded by an introductory paragraph that situates us in place, time, and circumstance. What emerges is a portrait of a modest yet great ar...