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Post by Si on Sept 24, 2006 22:40:34 GMT
Have any of you ever read this book?
How does it compare to the only othe english book I know - Mei An qi pu?
Does anyone know if it will ever be re-issued?
Anyother info about its contents - good or bad?
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Post by davidmdahl on Sept 25, 2006 3:51:14 GMT
Lore of the Chinese Lute by Robert Van Gulik is an important book and very hard to find. I don't play the qin, but I would snap up an affordable copy pretty fast. I love Gulik's Judge Dee stories.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by Charlie Huang on Sept 25, 2006 9:20:53 GMT
A benchmark work in itself. Recommended. I don't have it because it is expensive since it is rare and out of print. Search Abe Books and they'll usually have a few copies.
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Post by calden on Sept 25, 2006 14:33:30 GMT
Another Judge Dee fan! I LOVE those stories! Waiting for the next BBC Mystery series on it!
Carlos
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Post by davidmdahl on Sept 25, 2006 16:55:05 GMT
Another Judge Dee fan! I LOVE those stories! Waiting for the next BBC Mystery series on it! Carlos Is this for real?! Is there really going to be a Judge Dee on Mystery? Best wishes, David |
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Post by calden on Sept 25, 2006 18:40:09 GMT
We can only hope!
I'm just fantasizing, David. I'd LOVE to see it, though - that story held some very vivid imagery and it would make for a compelling movie. But then again, I love Chinese culture and stories, and not everyone in the general TV audience might necessarily agree.
Carlos
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Post by blueharp on Sept 26, 2006 4:28:16 GMT
I have a photo-copied version that I scanned for someone. I can't locate the file or my copy!  The book is very interesting and very useful. From reading the Mei'an Qin-pu translation I gather that there are a few errors, but those seem to be few. The biggest "controversy" was Van Gulik's decision to call the qin a "lute". That created quite a bit of confusion. The writing is rather dense making for a challenging read. I have a copy of a later edition where all of the parenthetical comments in the original were relocated to footnotes. I can't imagine how tough it was to read in the original version as the footnotes are extensive and long. As far as I know the last edition was published in the 1960s. |
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Post by Charlie Huang on Sept 26, 2006 7:59:36 GMT
Mei'an QP trans is basically a translation of the MAQP, which covers, well, only a partial aspect. Van Gulik's book covers the broad spectrum of qin.
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Post by Si on Sept 26, 2006 8:05:35 GMT
How did the author get to know so much as to be able to write a book on qin
Why (I wonder) since then no other person seems to have decided to write another english book on the qin. At least qin must be a lot more popular now than it was then, for westerners!
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Post by Charlie Huang on Sept 26, 2006 8:52:40 GMT
Gulik was fond of Chinese culture and he went to China to study qin. LOTCL and other books of his was his magnum opus. Today, I hardly think there will be people like him who had the time to do that, or have the necessary knowledge to execute a detailed study in English.
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Post by Si on Sept 26, 2006 9:08:17 GMT
I think many people would be happy if some of the many chinese books on qin were translated.
My teacher is doing a PHD (or some china equiv.) on the qin - i was tring to convince her to translate it into english - but to no avail.
Ho hum!
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Post by Charlie Huang on Sept 26, 2006 9:39:13 GMT
There's a lot of work in translation of a huge book! Frankly, I hardly think she'll have the time to basically write another PhD! Of course, she could get someone to do the trans, but that costs a lot of money, even proof reading will cost you. If the PhD is very important and exceptional, it will be rather silly not to translate it.
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Post by Si on Sept 27, 2006 21:13:58 GMT
CCC - Thanks for the tip-off for Abe books. They had one copy which I decided to buy. The only odd thing that I can see is that the published date was 1984. Apart from that all looks the same, page number, tile, cover etc.
Anyone know why they state 1984 instead of the usual 1969?
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Post by Charlie Huang on Sept 27, 2006 22:24:33 GMT
Hmmm... not sure...
Oh, his other book on the translation of Xi Kang's Qin Fu is worth getting. Search 'van gulik' with title 'essay' and it should be somewhere in the middle of the list.
Full title: Hsi K'ang and his Poetical Essay on the Lute (1941)
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Post by Si on Sept 27, 2006 22:37:57 GMT
well all i can do now is wait and see, but i'm assuming it is a mistake cos i have not seen any mention of 1984 any other place.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Sept 27, 2006 23:24:03 GMT
Can you link the page and let me take a look?
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Post by blueharp on Sept 28, 2006 5:46:19 GMT
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Post by Si on Sept 28, 2006 8:40:57 GMT
well as i have bought it, seems they have taken it from their inventory
so all i can find is the following from my bill:-
Author: Gulik, Robert Hans van.
Title: The Lore of the Chinese Lute An Essay in the Ideol
Description: 271 pp. Hard Cover. No DJ Fine. Label on spine worn
The whole title name has been cropped off the bill.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Sept 28, 2006 9:12:47 GMT
See there's no dust jacket and a bit worn... Should be OK.
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Post by Si on Sept 28, 2006 9:39:23 GMT
Yeah I can live without that - what I'am interested in is the contents. I remmber agea ago I think you mentioned that somebody in canada is working on an English book on the qin, any update on that project?
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Post by SCWGuqin on Sept 28, 2006 14:56:48 GMT
Is the "somebody in Canada" Jon Yeung of the University of Toronto?
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Post by Charlie Huang on Sept 28, 2006 19:33:37 GMT
Is the "somebody in Canada" Jon Yeung of the University of Toronto? Yep. You can see his progress on the Uni of Toronto Qin Society website. |
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Post by Si on Sept 30, 2006 8:51:43 GMT
Well the revered tome has arrived. It only took about 4 days from Santa Monica to UK!
It looks like to correct book with the 1969 date. Only problem is I forgot they all used damned Wade Giles in them days!
I need a way to traslate to pin ying now.
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Post by Joan on Oct 10, 2006 7:17:47 GMT
There are a lot of useful tools to study/learn chinese at mandarintools website. To translate wade-giles to pinyin I recommend you to use the 'Chinese Romanization Converter' at www.mandarintools.com/pyconverter.htmlI also bought LOTCL time ago from a used books reseller. 'Hsi K'ang and his Poetical Essay on the Lute' is still available from Monumenta Nipponica. There's a third book, 'Van Gulik: His Life, His Work', which is van Gulik biography . It was written by Jan Willem van de Wetering. A full chapter is about van Gulik's interest on the qin. See guqin.mybesthost.com/en/?RobertHansVanGulikFinally, you'll find a detailed list of Dee misteries at www.246.dk/gulik.htmlBest wishes, Joan |
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Post by Si on Oct 11, 2006 13:24:09 GMT
What topics does - 'Hsi K'ang and his Poetical Essay on the Lute' actually cover. Is it very useful?
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