Four Huts Asian Writings on the Simple Life

The short works collected inFour Hutsgive voice to one of the most treasured aesthetic and spiritual ideals of Asia-that of a simple life lived in a simple dwelling. The texts were written between the ninth and the seventeenth centuries and convey each author's underlying sense of the world and what is to be valued in it.Four Hutspresents original translations by Burton Watson-one of the most respected translators of Chinese and Japanese literature. The qualities that emerge from these writings are an awareness of impermanence, love of nature, fondness for poetry and music, and an appreciation of the quiet life.Four Hutsfeatures eleven brush paintings by artist Stephen Addiss.

Burton Watson has taught Chinese and Japanese literature at Columbia, Stanford, and Kyoto universities. He has translated many books from Chinese and Japanese, and is one of the most well known and respected translators in his field