William Hung (1893–1980)

There is a tendency in the West to imagine the great Tang poets as nature-loving, wine-drinking rustics living in humble huts on misty mountainsides. I venture to claim this biased picture is due in large part to the sympathies of these poets' English language translators. The nature poetry of this period is truly sublime and is certainly of the most general interest. However, the reality is that these writers were usually trained for the civil service and their poetic careers were initiated by their studies for the imperial examinations. They tended to be men of the world whose bucolic poems were the products of a longing for simplicity. It is easy to confuse the person with the persona.

This book, still the most comprehensive biography of Du Fu in English, gives a much more realistic and well rounded picture. William Hung concentrates on placing the poems in the context of the poet's life and doesn't have much to say about their literary merit, their complex forms, or their allusions to earlier poems. On the other hand, he gives a very full account of the range of Du Fu's subject matter and how the poems relate to his circumstances and surroundings. The book is dated, and its translations are colorless, but it is of vital importance to understanding this most humane of Chinese poets.… (mais)