Rereading Su Dongpo, Thirty Years Later

Abstract

Exactly thirty years ago, the speaker published a book-length study in English on Su Dongpo (1037-1101), titled Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi (Harvard, 1994). Having done research on other writers and topics, he has recently returned to Su Dongpo and is currently working on a four-volume selected translation of Su's writings across all genres (poetry, prose essays, memorials to the emperor, personal letters, colophons, etc.), which will be published in a bilingual edition. The speaker is now reading far more widely in Su's works than he did three decades ago. This talk will consist of reflections on the new insights he is gaining from his return to this protean Chinese writer and activist. For the speaker, it is a humbling experience to discover errors and simplifications he made in the past, but it is also quite heartening to see that he can still hope to attain a higher level of understanding of this complex and endlessly creative giant of Chinese cultural history. This talk is both about Su Dongpo and the speaker's continuing quest to refine his understanding of Su Dongpo.

About the Speaker

Prof. Ronald EGAN earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1976 and first came to University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 1987, having previously taught at Wellesley and Harvard. He was promoted to full Professor in 1993 and retired from UCSB in 2012, following his appointment as Confucius Institute Professor of Sinology at Stanford University. Over the course of his career, Prof. Egan has established himself as one of the foremost scholars working on Song dynasty (960-1279) Chinese literature in the world. His writings on Chinese poetics, literary culture, and aesthetics have been extremely influential not only throughout the American academy, but also in Europe and China. Some of his major publications include The Literary Works of Ou-yang Hsiu (1984), Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi (1994), Limited Views: Essays on Ideas and Letters by Qian Zhongshu (1998), The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China (2006), The Burden of Female Talent: The Poet Li Qingzhao and Her History in China (2014), and The Works of Li Qingzhao (2019).