THE LITERARY MIND AND THE CARVING OF DRAGONS

The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons is the first comprehensive work of literary criticism in Chinese, and one that has been considered essential reading for writers and scholars since it was written some 1,500 years ago. A vast compendium of all that was known about Chinese literature at the time, it is simultaneously a taxonomy and history of genres and styles and a manual for good writing. Its chapters, organized according to the I Ching, cover such topics as oChoice of Style,o oEmotion and Literary Expression,o oHumor and Enigma,o oSpiritual Thought or Imagination,o oThe Nourishing of Vitality,o and oLiterary Flaws.o oMindo is the ideas, impressions, and emotions that take form-the ocarving of the dragono-in a literary work. Full of examples and delightful anecdotes drawn from Liu Hsieh's encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese literature, readers will find concepts and standards of the art of writing that are both alien and familiar. The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons is not only a summa of classical Chinese literary aesthetics but also a wellspring of advice from the distant past on how to write. A complete translation of the text, this version has been reedited from the out-of-print edition published in 1983.