by Paul S. Ropp (2001)
"In 1737, An Obscure Painter, Poet, and scholar, Shi Zhenlin, published a dreamy rambling memoir in which he described a talented and persecuted peasant woman poet named Shuangqing. Because of her exquisite beauty, people assumed she was a banished immortal, a divine being expelled from Heaven for one incarnation in the human realm. Shi Zhenlin quoted many of Shuangqing's poems and song lyrics, and in the following two centuries, she became famous as China's only great peasant woman poet.". "Using Shi Zhenlin's memoir as a window on Chinese literary culture in the eighteenth century, Paul Ropp traces the evolution of Shuangqing's place in Chinese culture from the eighteenth century to the present. By way of extensive translations and analysis of Shi Zhenlin's memoir and of Shuangqing's poetry, Ropp demonstrates how changing interpretations of Shuangqing and her poetry reflect changing cultural concerns and preoccupations."--BOOK JACKET.
Rubén Pelayo
Chronicles the life of journalist and film critic Gabriel Garcia Marquez, discussing his childhood, schooling, political views, influence on world literature, interactions with world leaders, and other related topics.
Stanley Wells
The first part of this work is an evocative biographical sketch, scotching many myths and fleshing out the meagre facts into a rounded portrait of the man. Wells then turns his attention to the plays themselves and, finally, he discusses Shakespeare's critical legacy both here and abroad.
edited with an introduction by Albert Gelpi
Offers for the first time a volume of selections from the entire body of Everson's work, including poetry, autobiography, interviews, letters, and criticism.
Julian Preece
"Gunter Grass is the most influential German writer since the Second World War. His books have always challenged conventional attitudes and outraged readers. From The Tin Drum (1959), where he broke down the wall of silence which surrounded ordinary people's involvement in the Third Reich, to Too Far Afield (1995), which upset the reigning consensus on the success of German reunification, he has attracted controversy. He is also an undisputed master of the German language, whose style has inspired novelists in the English-speaking world, from Salman Rushdie and Graham Swift to John Irving." "This book shows how Grass's experiences as a teenager in Hitler's Germany shaped his thinking, both in his literary writing and in his role as campaigner and critic. Julian Preece draws on unpublished correspondence, the memoirs of contemporaries and the most recent research, to present a rounded portrait of the most important German writer since Thomas Mann."--BOOK JACKET.