Kidder Smith Bücher

This is Li Bo, also known as Li Po (701-62), the renowned poet of Tang China, celebrated for his adventurous spirit and love of wine. His infatuation with the moon led to a tragic end when he drowned while trying to embrace her reflection. Initially favored by the Emperor, Li Bo's vibrant energy proved too wild for court life. The collection presents seventy of his poems, letters, rhapsodies, and songs, reflecting the rich tapestry of Tang high culture filled with intriguing characters—planets, hermit women, swashbucklers, calligraphers, and buffoons. Through these works, we encounter the stories and temperaments of his poetry, revealing hidden exchanges and relationships. The volume includes background material and essays, serving as a guide to this extraordinary world, making the strange familiar and highlighting its true peculiarity. The authors and translators view these poems as magical acts, offering various interpretations of that magic. The essays function as demonstrations, a spell-book for understanding the delicate nuances of Li Bo's work. The book employs analogy, juxtaposition, and innuendo to explore the deeper claim of Li Bo's immortality, inviting readers to ponder what that truly means.

In premodern China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, just as in the far less culturally cohesive countries composing the West of the Middle Ages, enslavement was an assumed condition of servitude warranting little examination, as the power and profits it afforded to the slaver made it a convention pursued unreflectively.