Skip to main content

Sale until 1 Feb: Up to 30% off selected books.

ARC Publications

The Iron Flute : War Poetry From Ancient & Medieval China

No reviews yet
Product Code: 9781911469100
ISBN13: 9781911469100
Condition: New
$14.49
$12.92
Sale 11%
We may have heard of, or even read, Sunzi's Art of War, but this anthology is the first opportunity that the majority of English-language readers will have to read first-hand accounts from those involved, one way or another, in the on-going conflicts in ancient China. The bleak and barren terrain, the inclement weather - icy blasts of wind, snow-blizzards one moment and sandstorms the next - the music of the steppes, reed-pipes sounding strange melodies across the frozen wasteland, troops setting out from some barracks on the Wall, never to return, the whitened piles of bones they leave behind after their deaths in battle, the widows and orphans pining for them thousands of miles away... these are recurring themes in this anthology which spans more than sixteen centuries and includes the work of 50 poets. Conventional 'border poems' (poems about heroism and the lot of the common soldier thousands of miles away from home) sit side by side with eyewitness accounts, and the majority of these poems are translated into English for the first time, which is what makes this anthology so important. The anthology's title is inspired by a famous painting of a poet who fashioned a sweet-sounding flute from an iron sword. As the translator, Kevin Maynard, says: "Out of the discord of war we humans can still conjure up sweet music."

Author: Kevin Maynard
Publisher: Arc Publications
Publication Date: Aug 26, 2019
Number of Pages: 128 pages
Language: English
Binding: Paperback
ISBN-10: 191146910X
ISBN-13: 9781911469100

The Iron Flute : War Poetry From Ancient & Medieval China

$14.49
$12.92
Sale 11%
 
We may have heard of, or even read, Sunzi's Art of War, but this anthology is the first opportunity that the majority of English-language readers will have to read first-hand accounts from those involved, one way or another, in the on-going conflicts in ancient China. The bleak and barren terrain, the inclement weather - icy blasts of wind, snow-blizzards one moment and sandstorms the next - the music of the steppes, reed-pipes sounding strange melodies across the frozen wasteland, troops setting out from some barracks on the Wall, never to return, the whitened piles of bones they leave behind after their deaths in battle, the widows and orphans pining for them thousands of miles away... these are recurring themes in this anthology which spans more than sixteen centuries and includes the work of 50 poets. Conventional 'border poems' (poems about heroism and the lot of the common soldier thousands of miles away from home) sit side by side with eyewitness accounts, and the majority of these poems are translated into English for the first time, which is what makes this anthology so important. The anthology's title is inspired by a famous painting of a poet who fashioned a sweet-sounding flute from an iron sword. As the translator, Kevin Maynard, says: "Out of the discord of war we humans can still conjure up sweet music."

Author: Kevin Maynard
Publisher: Arc Publications
Publication Date: Aug 26, 2019
Number of Pages: 128 pages
Language: English
Binding: Paperback
ISBN-10: 191146910X
ISBN-13: 9781911469100
 

Customer Reviews

This product hasn't received any reviews yet. Be the first to review this product!

Faster Shipping

Delivery in 3-8 days

Easy Returns

14 days returns

Discount upto 30%

Monthly discount on books

Outstanding Customer Service

Support 24 hours a day