T'Ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China

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 of the authors who composed these popular narratives and the describes who copied them, the relationship of the texts to oral performance, and the reasons for the apparently sudden demise of the genre around the beginning of the Sung dynasty. Mair's is a multi-disciplinary study that integrates findings from religious, literary, linguistic, sociological, and historical materials, carried out with philological rigor. It includes an extensive bibliography of relevant sources in many languages.

Author: Victor H. Mair
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 06/01/1989
Pages: 450
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.29lbs
Size: 9.27h x 6.33w x 1.17d
ISBN13: 9780674868151
ISBN10: 0674868153
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Folklore & Mythology