Description: NEW IN PAPERBACKIn this seventeenth-century Chinese novel, Han Xiangzi, best known as one of the Eight Immortals, seeks and achieves immortality and then devotes himself to converting his materialistic, politically ambitious Confucian uncleHan Yu (a real historical figure)to Daoism. Written in lively vernacular prose interspersed with poems and songs, the novel takes its readers over vast distances across China, to the heavens, and into the underworld. This is the first translation into any Western language. Yang Erzeng (fl. 15901602) was a writer and publisher from the city of Hangzhou in southeastern China. Philip Clart is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Brief description: Philip Clart is professor of Chinese studies at the University of Leipzig. He is the author of Die Religionen Chinas (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlag, 2009); and translator of The Story of Han Xiangzi: The Alchemical Adventures of a Daoist Immortal (University of Washington Press, 2007).
Review Quotes:
"Readers conversant with traditional and modern Chinese religion, and the Daoist universe of discourse, will appreciate Clart's painstaking contributions, and eagerly await the companion volume."
--Russell Kirkland "Religious Studies Review" (1/1/2009 12:00:00 AM)