T'ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph)

by Victor H. Mair

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This is the most comprehensive study of pien-wen ("transformation texts," i.e., tales of metamorphosis) in any language since the manuscripts were discovered at the beginning of this century in a remote cave complex in northwest China. They are the earliest written vernacular narratives in China and are thus extremely important in the history of Chinese language and literature. Numerous scholarly controversies have surrounded the study of the texts in the last three-quarters of a century; this volume seeks to resolve some of them -- the extent, origins, and formal characteristics of the texts, the meaning of pien-wen, the identity...Read more
  • ISBN10 0674868153
  • ISBN13 9780674868151
  • Publish Date 1 June 1989
  • Publish Status Active
  • Out of Print 7 July 2021
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Harvard University Press
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 450
  • Language English