Reading the Records of the Grand Historian -- A Series of Classical Text Readings in Chinese Language and Literature

Author: Chen Zhenghong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: This book is based on the lecture notes for the "Close Reading of the Records of the Grand Historian" course taught by the author to first-year undergraduates in the Department of Chinese at Fudan University. The entire book selects eight chapters from the Records of the Grand Historian, including "Biography of Yin," "Annals of the Six States," "River and Canal Treatise," "Household of the King of Yue Goujian," "Biographies of Bo Yi and Jie," "Biographies of Assassins," "Biographies of Liu Jing and Sima Qian," and "Preface by Sima Qian," providing clear and detailed explanations for each section. The selected chapters cover all five major categories of the Records of the Grand Historian and largely include the original narrative periods of its history (from pre-Qin to Western Han). The explanations highlight the diversity and inheritance of themes, styles, and writing techniques in classical Chinese texts. The book is well-structured and easy to understand, making it suitable as a textbook for introductory courses on famous literary works in humanities and history at colleges and universities. It can also serve as an accessible introduction for general readers interested in reading the original Records of the Grand Historian.