Often considered China's greatest poet, Du Fu (712-770) came of age at the height of the Tang dynasty, in an era marked by confidence that the accumulated wisdom of the precedent cultural tradition would guarantee civilization's continued stability and prosperity. When his society collapsed into civil war in 755, however, he began to question contemporary assumptions about the role that tradition should play in making sense of experience and defining human flourishing.

In this book, Lucas Bender argues that Du Fu's reconsideration of the nature and importance of tradition has played a pivotal role in the transformation of Chinese poetic understanding over the last millennium. In reimagining his relationship to tradition, Du Fu anticipated important philosophical transitions from the late-medieval into the early-modern period and laid the template for a new and perduring paradigm of poetry's relationship to ethics. He also looked forward to the transformations his own poetry would undergo as it was elevated to the pinnacle of the Chinese poetic pantheon.

About the Author
Lucas Rambo Bender is Assistant Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University.

Reviews
Informative and insightful, with articulate arguments and nuanced explications. ...In this day and age, it takes tremendous courage, assiduous scholarship, and fresh thinking to write an excellent book on Du Fu's poetry. Bender's is one such book. -- Xiaoshan Yang * Journal of the American Oriental Society *
A well-researched, beautifully executed work, Bender's book has succeeded in unfolding an innovative and complex narrative of Du Fu's transformation... [A] valuable and timely contribution to our understanding of this iconic poet, inviting students of traditional Chinese poetry and literature to further explore the perennial and dynamic tension between tradition and the individual talent. -- Ji Hao * Tang Studies *


Awards
Winner of Gaddis Smith Internation Book Prize 2022 (United States).



Book Information
ISBN 9780674260177
Author Lucas Rambo Bender
Format Hardback
Page Count 430
Imprint Harvard University, Asia Center
Publisher Harvard University, Asia Center