Reading Philosophy, Writing Poetry

“This new study on pre-Tang classical Chinese poetry is one of a kind. For the first time, the handful of best-known poet-intellectuals from the Period of Disunion are discussed as a group… A gem. It will satisfy the expert as well as pique the interest of a novice in classical Chinese literature.”—Ping Wang, China Review International

“With its level-headed response to long-encrusted polemic, its willingness to follow poetic allusion wherever it might lead, and its inventive synthesis of intellectual history and literary interpretation, Reading Philosophy, Writing Poetry gives new life to the ‘dregs and chaff’ at which Zhuangzi’s wheelwright scoffed.”—Haun Saussy, Journal of Chinese Studies