Tao Yuanming and Manuscript Culture : The Record of a Dusty Table

As medieval Chinese manuscripts were copied and recopied through the centuries, both mistakes and deliberate editorial changes were introduced. Xiaofei Tian shows how readers not only experienced authors but "produced" them by shaping texts to their interpretation, focusing on the evolution over the centuries of the reclusive poet Tao Yuanming into a figure of epic stature. Xiaofei Tianis professor of Chinese literature at Harvard University. "An original and evocative study." -The Journal of Asian Studies "A powerful revisionist reading of Tao Yuanming É It will become required reading for students of medieval Chinese literature, and has much to offer readers with more general interests in cultural history and literary studies." - Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies