ISBN: 0-916870-35-9
404 pp.
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Paperback Original
Price: $9.95
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Madly Singing in the Mountains
Ivan Morris
Arthur Waley, who died in 1966 at the age of seventy-seven, did more than any other single man to introduce Chinese and Japanese literature to the Western reader. Though a member of England's famous Bloomsbury group, surprisingly little is known about this man who, almost by accident, taught himself Chinese and Japanese and published some of the finest translations ever produced from the classical literature of these countries. Waley came to be recognized as one of the most important literary figures of this century and, in the fullest sense of the word, a genius.
Fortunately, Waley has an impressive circle of friends from whom Ivan Morris has collected articles that form the first part of this book. Some essays dealt with Waley as a scholar, a translator and a poet; others are personal and often very moving. The second part, an anthology of Waley's finest work, may provide for many readers their first glimpse of the literary treasure house that Waley opened for us.
The editor, Ivan Morris, wrote widely on modern and ancient Japan, and translated numerous works including The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. His book The World of the Shining Prince, a study of Heian Japan, was judged the best work of non-fiction published in England in 1964. He was professor of Japanese and Chairman of the Department of East Asian Languages and cultures at Columbia University until his death in 1976.
Review: "Arthur Waley comes startlingly to life...A splendid, well-served feast, and full of plums."
Robert Plum
"A volume of extraordinary charm, a silkscreen print of memoir, scholarly tribute, self-portrayal, and selected poetry and prose, as oblique and rich as was Waley."
George Steiner, The New Yorker
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