The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima QianSima Qian's vast Records of the Historian is the first comprehensive history of China and has exerted an immense influence both upon our understanding of the Chinese past and also upon the style and structure of subsequent Chinese historiography. In addition to his contribution as a historian, Sima Qian is a highly significant literary figure whose writings are among the most elegant and powerful from the ancient world. Durrant's study approaches Sima Qian's work from a literary perspective and demonstrates the relationship between Sima's narrative of the past and his narrative of his own life. That life was a fascinating and complex one. Enjoined by his father to complete a comprehensive history of China, Sima Qian subsequently offended the great Emperor Wu and was sentenced to castration. Rather than take the "noble path" of suicide, he suffered this traumatic punishment and lived on to fulfill his father's injunction—but not without emotional scars, scars that influenced his portrayal of the Chinese past. In fact, the great Han historian's account of the Chinese past, this study argues, is as much his story as it is history. |
Contents
The Frustration of the Second Confucius | 1 |
Sima Qians Confucius | 29 |
Sima Qian the Six Arts and Spring and Autumn Annals | 47 |
Dying Fathers and Living Memories | 71 |
Women without Names | 99 |
Ideologue versus Narrator | 123 |
Epilogue | 145 |
Notes | 153 |
Glossary | 199 |
205 | |
219 | |
Other editions - View all
The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian Stephen W. Durrant Limited preview - 1995 |
The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian Stephen W. Durrant No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
Analects ancient Autumn Annals Ban Gu Basic Annals Bo Yi chapter Chen and Cai China Chinese Chun qiu classics Confucian Confucius critical death Discourses Dong Zhongshu Duke dynasty Emperor Wu episode father filial frustration Gongyang Gongzi Grand Astrologer Guang Han dynasty heaven Hereditary Household Historian Historical Documents Intrigues Jing jingxue King Fuchai Laozi Liang literary Liu Bang Liu Zhiji Lord Xinling Lu Jia Lu Zhonglian Master Lü Mencius minister noted passage Poetry political Qian's Records ritual ruler sage says SBBY scholars second Confucius Self-Narration Shang Shen Baoxu Shi ji Shu Qi Sima Qian Sima Qian's account Sima Tan Sima Tan's Six Arts sources Spring and Autumn story suicide Taibei tion Traditions of Wu translation True Gentleman Wang Warring States period words writing Wu Zixu Xiang Yu Xu Fuguan Xunzi Yu's Yuan Zhang Zhanguo Zhao Zheng Zhongguo Zhou zhuan Zixu's Zuo Commentary