Stephen W. Durrant's Books

The Cloudy Mirror

Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian

By: Stephen W. Durrant

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Cloudy Mirror

Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian

By: Stephen W. Durrant

Sima Qian's vast Records of the Historian is the first comprehensive history of China and has exerted an immense influence both upon our understanding of the Chinese past and also upon the style and structure of subsequent Chinese historiography. In addition to his contribution as a historian, Sima Qian is a highly significant literary figure whose writings are among the most elegant and powerful from the ancient world. Durrant's study approaches Sima Qian's work from a literary perspective and demonstrates the relationship between Sima's narrative of the past and his narrative of his own life. That life was a fascinating and complex one. Enjoined by his father to complete a comprehensive history of China, Sima Qian subsequently offended the great Emperor Wu and was sentenced to castration. Rather than take the "noble path" of suicide, he suffered this traumatic punishment and lived on to fulfill his father's injunction—but not without emotional scars, scars that influenced his portrayal of the Chinese past. In fact, the great Han historian's account of the Chinese past, this study argues, is as much his story as it is history.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

252

Publisher

State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438401701

ISBN 13

9781438401706

The Siren and the Sage

Knowledge and Wisdom in Ancient Greece and China

By: Steven Shankman,Stephen Durrant

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Siren and the Sage

Knowledge and Wisdom in Ancient Greece and China

By: Steven Shankman,Stephen Durrant

The cultures of ancient China and ancient Greece have exerted immeasurable influence on later civilizations. The texts and cultural values of classical China spread throughout East Asia and became the foundation of learning in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Greek learning and culture receive credit for many of the intellectual paradigms of the West. Probably the one which is most distinctly Western is the tradition of logical proof and the related assumption that, as Aristotle put it in 'Metaphysics' 980, 'we all desire to know.' In contrast, the Chinese tradition, as exemplified by Laozi's 'Dao de jing,' cautions that through our desire to know we may forfeit wisdom, thus engendering a split between knowledge and wisdom. 'The Siren and the Sage' is a comparative study of what some of the most influential writers of ancient China and ancient Greece thought it meant to know and whether they distinguished knowledge from wisdom. It surveys selected works of poetry, history and philosophy from roughly the eighth through the second centuries BCE, focusing on the 'Odyssey,' the ancient Chinese 'Classic of Poetry,' Thucydides' 'History of the Peloponnesian War,' Sima Qian's 'Records of the Historian,' Plato's 'Symposium,' Laozi's 'Dao de jing' and the writings of Zhuangzi. The intention, through such juxtaposition, is to introduce foundational texts of each tradition, texts which continue to influence most of the world's peoples. It is intriguing to ask what awareness, if any, these distinctive cultures had of each other. A considerable body of scholarship comparing ancient Greece and ancient China now exists. Scholars are presenting evidence that the two cultures may actually have been aware of each other's presence, even though that awareness was presumably indirect, perhaps mediated by the nomadic peoples of Central Asia. While not directly contributing evidence, the authors argue that comparing the cultures of Greece and China will continue to be an irresistible and important scholarly debate. The book offers a provocative study which is accessible to students and general readers and at the same time contributes to the debate.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

268

Publisher

Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1725208458

ISBN 13

9781725208452

The Cloudy Mirror

Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian

By: Stephen W. Durrant

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Cloudy Mirror

Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian

By: Stephen W. Durrant

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

252

Publisher

State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438401701

ISBN 13

9781438401706

Book's by Stephen W. Durrant

The Cloudy Mirror

The Cloudy Mirror

The Siren and the Sage

The Siren and the Sage

The Cloudy Mirror

The Cloudy Mirror

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email