The book is a literary study of one of the greatest of Chinese writers, Ou-yang Hsiu. He was a major writer in each of several genres: prose, poetry, rhapsodies, and tz'u 'songs'. The striking diversity of his work presents an opportunity to investigate how one man's literary talent is manifested in different genres. Ou-yang Hsiu's achievements in each genre are examined, and set in the context of his age. Topics include the broad shift between T'ang and Sung dynasty prose styles that Ou-yang Hsiu helped to effect, his contributions to the new poetic values of the Northern Sung, and his place in the evolution of Sung dynasty songs (together with a reconsideration of a group of supposedly spurious songs). An appendix provides additional translations of Ou-yang Hsiu's prose.

Remembered today primarily as a poet, calligrapher, and critic, the protean Su Shi was an outspoken player in the contentious politics and intellectual debates of the Northern Song dynasty. In this comprehensive study, Egan analyzes Su's literary and artistic work against the background of eleventhcentury developments within Buddhist and Confucian thought and Su's dogged disagreement with the New Policies of Wang Anshi.

Egan explicates Su's views on governance, the classics, and Buddhism; and he describes Su's social-welfare initiatives, arrest for disloyalty, and exiles. Finding a key to the richness of Su's artistic activities in his vacillation on the significance of aesthetic pursuits, Egan explores Su's shi and ci poetry and Su's promotion of painting and calligraphy, looking specially at the problem of subjectivity. In a concluding chapter, he reconsiders Su's role as a founder of the wenren ("literati") and challenges the conventional understanding of both Su and the Northern Song wenren generally.