Hiding in Caverns Formed from Old Roots
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Yu Xuanji (c. 843-868) is one of the most interesting poets in premodern Chinese literature, and her approximately fifty extant poems include some of the most arresting writing from the Tang dynasty--a period known as the golden age of Chinese poetry. Born a commoner, by fifteen Yu had become the concubine of a man from an illustrious family, until he abandoned her and she became a Daoist priestess, where she took on an active role as a poet as well as a religious practitioner. She was only a priestess for two years before she was executed at the age of twenty-six on dubious accusations of murder.
Yu's story is fascinating, but her poetry is even more so. Despite her relatively slim output and the patriarchal culture in which she lived, she became known for writing that combines late Tang lushness with a rare frankness about what it meant to be a woman in the ninth century. Yu was an incisive and expressive poet, and her work treats a wide range of topics, such as love, spirituality, abandonment, female friendship, sex, and sexuality. Preceded by a critical introduction explaining the possibility of a tradition of women's poetry in medieval China, as well as Yu's relationship with the dominant tradition of male poets, this collection of innovative translations combines scholarly accuracy with a poet's demand for creative solutions in handling the crossover between languages and literary styles.
Yu Xuanji (c. 843-868) was a concubine, a Daoist priestess, and a poet who was executed at the age of twenty-six on dubious accusations of murder. Though only approximately fifty of her poems have survived, she is now the most famous woman poet of the Tang dynasty.
Lucas Klein is Associate Professor of Chinese at Arizona State University and Associate Editor of the Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature. His publications include The Organization of Distance and, as coeditor, Chinese Poetry and Translation and The Bloomsbury Handbook of Modern Chinese Literature in Translation. He is also the translator of poetry by Mang Ke, Li Shangyin, Duo Duo, and Xi Chuan.