Eastern Canons: Approaches to the Asian Classics

by Wm. Theodore De Bary, Irene Bloom

Overview

The essays gathered here, in addition to those by editors Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloob, are written by leading scholars of Asian cultures—among them Donald Keene, Peter Awn, Barbara Stoler Miller, Ainslie Embree, Burton Watson, C.T. Hsia, Paul Anderer, and others. They introduce classics from the Islamic, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese traditions, providing entree to texts which have emerged as monuments of Asian thought and literature. Among the works discussed are the Qu'ran, the philosophy of history of Ibn Khaldun, the Upanishads, the epic Mahabarata, the philosopher Mencius, the Lotus Sutra, T'and Poetry, the Tale of Genji, and the poet Basho.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231070058
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	05/18/1995
Series:	Companions to Asian Studies Series
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	395
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.96(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Wm. Theodore de Bary (1919–2017) was John Mitchell Mason Professor Emeritus and provost emeritus of Columbia University. His many books include Waiting for the Dawn, Message of the Mind, and Learning for One’s Self, as well as Sources of Japanese Tradition and Sources of Korean Tradition, all published by Columbia University Press.

Irene Bloom (1939–2010) was Wm. Theodore and Fanny de Bary and Class of 1941 Associate Professor of Asian Humanities at Columbia University and Anne Whitney Olin Professor Emerita in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College. She edited and translated Knowledge Painfully Acquired: The K’un-chih chi of Lo Ch’in-shun and coedited, with Joshua A. Fogel, Meeting of Minds: Intellectual and Religious Interaction in East Asian Traditions of Thought.

Table of Contents

Preface, by Wm. Theodore de Bary
1. Asia in the Core Curriculum, by Wm. Theodore de Bary
2. Asian Classics as "The Great Books of the East", by Wm. Theodore de Bary
3. Classics of the Islamic Tradition
The Qu'ran, by Peter Awn
Attar - The Conference of the Birds, by James Winston Morris
Al-Ghazali, by Peter Awn
Ibn Khaldun, by Muhsin Mahdi
4. Classics of the Indian Tradition
The Upanishads, by Joel Brereton
The Mahabharata, by Barbara Stoler Miller
Indian and Greek Epics, by Robert Antoine
Sakuntala, by Barbara Stoler Miller
Gandhi's Autobiography, by Ainslie T. Embree
5. Classics of the Chinese Tradition and Buddhism
Mencius, by Irene Bloom
Lao Tzu, by Franciscus Verellen
The Lotus Sutra, by Wing-tsit Chan
The Vimalakirti Sutra, by Robert A.F. Thurman
The Platform Sutra, by Philip Yampolsky
T'ang Poetry, by Burton Watson
A Dream of Red Mansions, by C.T. Hsia
6. Classics of the Japanese Tradition
The Tale of Genji, by Haruo Shirane
Kamo no Chomei's Ten Foot Square Hut, by Paul Anderer
The Tale of the Heike, by H. Paul Varley
Kenkō: Essays in Idleness, by Donald Keene
The Poetry of Matsuo Basho, by Haruo Shirane
7. Symposium on the Oriental Humanities
Robert Goldman
David Johnson
Jonathan Cott
John Van Doren
Pauline Yu
Paul Anderer

Editorial Reviews

A work of great worth. . . . de Bary and Bloom present an eloquent and compelling argument for the inclusion of the Asian classics in any construction of a general curriculum for the American student by showing that in terms of content and canon, process and method, Asian classics can and should make crucial contributions.

Anthony C. Yu