This anthology of Chinese women's poetry in translation brings
together representative selections from the work of some 130 poets
from the Han dynasty to the early twentieth century. To measure the
development of Chinese women's poetry, one must take into account
not only the poems but also the prose writings--prefaces,
biographies, theoretical tracts--that framed them and attempted to
shape women's writing as a distinct category of literature. To this
end, the anthology contains an extended section of criticism by and
about women writers.
These poets include empresses, imperial concubines, courtesans,
grandmothers, recluses, Buddhist nuns, widows, painters, farm
wives, revolutionaries, and adolescent girls thought to be
incarnate immortals. Some women wrote out of isolation and despair,
finding in words a mastery that otherwise eluded them. Others were
recruited into poetry by family members, friends, or sympathetic
male advocates. Some dwelt on intimate family matters and cast
their poems as addresses to husbands and sons at large in the wide
world of men's affairs. Each woman had her own reasons for poetry
and her own ways of appropriating, and often changing, the
conventions of both men's and women's verse.
The primary purpose of this anthology is to put before the
English-speaking reader evidence of the poetic talent that
flourished, against all odds, among women in premodern China. It is
also designed to spur reflection among specialists in Chinese
poetry, inspiring new perspectives on both the Chinese poetic
tradition and the canon of female poets within that tradition. This
partial history both connects with and departs from the established
patterns for women's writing in the West, thus complementing
current discussions of "feminine writing."
General
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