This translation of 65 pieces from Qian Zhongshu's Guanzhui bian (Limited Views) makes available for the first time in English a representative selection from Qian's massive four-volume collection of essays and reading notes on the classics of early Chinese literature. First published in 1979, it has been hailed as one of the most insightful and comprehensive treatments of themes and motifs in early Chinese writing to appear in this century. Scholar, novelist, and essayist Qian Zhongshu (b. 1910) is arguably contemporary China's foremost man of letters, and Limited Views is recognized as the culmination of his study of literature in both the Chinese and the Western traditions.

Ronald Egan is Professor and Chair of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Read More by Ronald C. Egan:

• Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi
• The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China
• Emperor Huizong and Late Northern Song China: The Politics of Culture and the Culture of Politics