Wheel-Rim River - by Wang Wei (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Renowned in ancient China's artistic tradition, the Wheel-Rim River poems and paintings come to life in exquisite translations and 40 full-color reproductions.

The famed T'ang-Dynasty poet Wang Wei once said that his poems were paintings and his paintings poems. This book presents a legendary instance of that conjunction. One autumn in eighth century China, Wang's friend P'ei Ti came to visit, and the two of them wandered the mountain landscape around Wang's house. They wrote poems at twenty sites in the area, and Wang later painted a scroll-painting of those same sites. The poems are among the most revered in the tradition, and though Wang's scroll-painting was lost, it was so admired that scores of painters produced virtuosic copies and variations during the centuries that followed. Two of these scroll-paintings are reproduced here, site by site, together with the corresponding poems. The result is a unique collaboration between poets, painters, and translator David Hinton.

In ancient China, poetry and painting were considered expressions of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhistinsight, and Hinton's commentary situates these masterpieces within that context. Presented as a constellation of interrelated words and images, Wheel-Rim River reveals mountain landscape as a transformative and enlightening realm.

About the Author

DAVID HINTON has published numerous books of poetry and essays, and many translations of ancient Chinese poetry and philosophy--all informed by an abiding interest in deep ecological thinking. This widely acclaimed work has earned Hinton a Guggenheim Fellowship, numerous fellowships from NEA and NEH, and both of the major awards given for poetry translation in the United States: the Landon Translation Award (Academy of American Poets) and the PEN American Translation Award. Most recently, Hinton received a lifetime achievement award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.