This collection is the first comprehensive treatment of the song lyric (tz'u) in China from its origins through the nineteenth century. Engaging issues of form, language, voice, and transmission, these essays explore the changing and frequently problematic situation of the tz'u over centuries of literary production. They articulate the common ground of critical discourse, focusing on concerns of gender and genre, that took shape in essays, anthologies, and the poems themselves.
Introduction, Pauline Yu
The Formation of a Distinct Generic Identity for Tz'u, Shuen-fu Lin
Meaning the Words: The Genuine as a Value in the Tradition of the Song Lyric,
Stephen Owen
Song Lyrics and the Canon: A Look at Anthologies of Tz'u , Pauline Yu
Engendering the Lyric: Her Image and Voice in Song, Grace S. Fong
The Poetry of Li Ch'ing-chao: A Woman Author and Women's Authorship, John
Timothy Wixted
Liu Shih and Hsü Ts'an: Feminine or Feminist?, Kang-i Sun Chang
The Problem of the Repute of Tz'u During the Northern Sung, Ronald C. Egan
Contexts of the Song Lyric in Sung Times: Communication Technology, Social
Change, Morality, Stuart H. Sargent
Wang Kuo-wei's Song Lyrics in the Light of His Own Theories, Yeh Chia-ying
Messages of Uncertain Origin: The Textual Tradition of the Nan-T'ang erh-chu
tz'u, Daniel Bryant
Pauline Yu is Professor and Chair of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of California at Irvine.
