Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China

This book, first published in 1988, compiles 77 songs and ballads (yüeh-fu) of early imperial China (200 BC - AD 300). Each song-text is newly translated and fully annotated and explicated. Dr Birrell deals systematically with problems of the earliest sources, dating, attribution, textual variants, multiforms, metre, generic title, song title and structure. This careful and thorough treatment is especially necessary for a corpus of anonymous popular texts which are often corrupt, structurally confusing, laconic and full of nonsense words and colloquialisms. Her introductory essay provides a socio-historical context for this material and charts its literary transmission, while singling out special characteristics of the genre, such as musical, oral and dramatic elements. The main text, arranged into eleven chapters plus an introduction, is supplemented by notes, appendices, maps, chronology, bibliography and index.

List of contents

1. Hymns, 2. Fables in Verse, 3. The Elixir of Life, 4. Carpe Diem, 5. Burial Songs, 6. Political Broadsides, 7. Anti-War Ballads and Songs, 8. Domestic Drama, 9. Homeward Thoughts, 10. Love Songs, 11. The Ideal Home and Perfect Marriage

About the author

Anne Birrell

Summary

This book, first published in 1988, compiles 77 songs and ballads (yüeh-fu) of early imperial China (200 BC – AD 300). Each song-text is newly translated and fully annotated and explicated.

Product details

• Authors: Anne Birrell
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 15.10.2023
• EAN: 9780367770761
• ISBN: 978-0-367-77076-1
• No. of pages: 238
• Series: Routledge Library Editions: Chinese Literature and Arts
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Poetry, Asia, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Regional Studies, Society & culture: general, Regional Studies, Literature: history & criticism, Regional / International studies, Society and culture: general, Literature: history and criticism