The Chinese pleasure book / Michael Nylan.

Author
Nylan, Michael [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • New York : Zone Books, 2018.
  • ©2018
Description
453 pages ; 24 cm

Availability

Available Online

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks B127.E46 N95 2018 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    In 'The Chinese Pleasure Book', Michael Nylan takes up one of the most important themes in Chinese thought: the relation of pleasurable activities to bodily health and the health of the body politic. In a notable contrast to Western writings on the subject, early Chinese writings oppose pleasure not with pain but with insecurity. All assume that it is right and proper to seek and take pleasure, as well as short-term delight, and all are equally certain that long-term relational pleasures are more easily sustained-as well as potentially more satisfying and less damaging. The pleasures that become deeper and more ingrained over the long term, as one invests time and effort into their cultivation, include friendship and music, sharing with others, developing integrity and greater clarity, reading and classical learning, and going home. Nylan explores each of these fields of activity through the early sources (mainly fourth century BC to the eleventh century AD), providing new translations for both well-known and seldom-cited texts.
    Notes
    Includes index.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    Contents
    • Coming attractions
    • Good vibrations: The allied pleasures of music and friendship in the masters
    • Mencius on our common share of pleasure
    • Zunzi on patterns of brilliance
    • Vital matters: The pleasures of clear vision in the Zhuangzi
    • Yang Xiong on the allure of words well chosen
    • Semidetached lodgings: The pleasures of returning home in Tao Yuanming and Su Shi.
    ISBN
    • 9781942130130 ((hardcover))
    • 1942130139 ((hardcover))
    LCCN
    2018015511
    OCLC
    1029890255
    Other standard number
    • 40028588667
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