Tao Qian and the Chinese Poetic Tradition: The Quest for Cultural Identity

While Tao Qian’s unique position in Chinese literature is uncontested, there has been much debate over the relationship between Tao’s poetry and the life he lived and over the poet’s place within the literary and intellectual traditions of his time. Kwong’s nuanced analysis draws upon the full range of traditional Chinese literary scholarship and intellectual history as well as recent advances in Western literary criticism, hermeneutics, and comparative literature.