Philip F Williams

Salutations; A Festschrift for Burton Watson Philip F Williams

Publisher Marketing: This collection of essays, articles, and poems about Chinese and Japanese literature and culture celebrates the illustrious scholarly career of Burton Watson, whose range of excellent literary translations into English from Japanese and classical Chinese is second to none. Over half of the book's seventeen chapters are articles about Chinese or Japanese literature and culture with full scholarly apparatus; the remainder are tributes to Watson in the form of poetry or informal essays. Nearly all of the chapters are by veteran poets or scholars of East Asian culture. Topics include analysis of Watson's skills as a translator and practical critic; a cultural history of Chinese literati; masterpieces of the Ming essayist Zhang Dai; revisiting David Hawkes' interpretations of Du Fu's poetry; China's earliest science fiction from the late Qing; reflections on cultural change by the early Yuan Confucianist Hao Jing; the multi-dimensional symbolism in Hagiwara Sakutaro's poetry; the fictional portrayal of a self-sacrificing female Chinese Buddhist saint; key patterns of arboreal imagery in the 300 Tang Poems anthology; and Japanese linked verse across the centuries. Contributors include Victor Mair, Robert Hegel, Hiroaki Sato, William Nienhauser, Jr., Jonathan Chaves, Lucas Klein, Hoyt Tillman, Yenna Wu, Yoko Danno, Hua Li, Duncan Campbell, Stephen Addiss, Robert Epp, Sam Hamill, Gary Snyder, Timothy Clifford, Philip Rowland, Jesse Glass, and Philip Williams. The book also contains a multi-page bibliography of major translations and studies by Burton Watson, as well as photographs and illustrations. Recommended for anyone interested in East Asian literature and culture, especially the time-honored literary classics." Contributor Bio:  Glass, Jesse, Jr. A native of Carroll County, Maryland, Jesse Glass now makes his home in Tokyo, where he teaches American literature and history at Meikai (Bright Sea) University. His books include LOST POET: FOUR PLAYS BY JESSE GLASS (BlazeVOX Books, 2010), Gaha Noas Zorge (New Sins Press, 2009), and THE PASSION OF PHINEAS GAGE & SELECTED POEMS (Ahadada Books/West House Books, 2006). Praised by Geraldine Monk, Jerome Rothenberg, Michael Heller, William Bronk, and other major voices of contemporary experimental poetry, Glass is an internationally acclaimed performer of his own work and features prominently at PennSound, Ubu Web, and in dozens of other anthologies and magazines devoted to "the sweet science." He is currently developing a puppetry and poetry theater with the aid of his students. Glass's literary manuscripts are archived in Special Collections at the University of Maryland Libraries, College Park and ten of his handmade, painted books are in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London.