A Comprehensive Biography of Li Po  –  Heavens Angel and Poet

Moscow 2009

 

 

This publication is addressed to a wide circle of readers, especially those interested in literature and Far Eastern studies.

This is the first scientifically-based comprehensive biography of the greatest and most mysterious of Chinese poets, Li Po (701-763), to appear outside the Chinese-speaking world. It is largely based on historical documents, chronicles, memoirs, and analytical research carried out by both Chinese and foreign scholars; it also employs evidence drawn from Li Po’s poems to better depict his life and world views against the colorful historical background of the Tang Dynasty’s morals and manners.

To provide the reader with a better feel for the epoch, the author not only conducted a careful study of Li Po’s poetry, but also translated into Russian more that 300 poems (out of the 900 still extant). The majority of these poems had never been translated into Russian before.

The author viewed Li Po’s poems as a form of the poet’s personal diary from which he extracted their dramatic component enriching it with narratives from either legends or fiction by prominent Chinese authors in order to create an image of the poet as a real man, to reconstruct a ‘holographic” picture of his life.

The significance of Li Po as a historic figure  extends  beyond  the frames of poetry. Li Po’s poems, which burst at us through the density of time, demonstrate, as Prof. Yu Xianhao said, ‘ the blending of Qu Yuan’s exquisite allegories with the wide sweep of Zhuanzi…., the merging of Qu Yuan’s social activity with the passive keeping aloof, typical for Zhuanzi”. Li Po’s

 

 

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poems express the spirit of freedom typical for Chinese intellectual elite throughout the centuries, thus confirming the greatness of their creator.

Li Po is an emblematic figure in Chinese culture, its specific cultural phenomenon, but up until now for modern foreign readers he has been more of a bronze monument, a mighty legendary Roc rather than a living being.

The author’s overall task was to render Li Po as a human being - a close friend of another genius of Chinese literature                        Du Fu, a man who rejoiced and suffered, who loved life and people, who hated any lie and falsity, who was constantly seeking for something and often in mental turmoil; a man  worshipped by his friends and…  betrayed by them; a man who was longing to reach the Sun and who was dancing with his own shadow under the smiling Moon; a passionate poet, a prankster, never a slave of formalities, never  comfortable  within  the  limits  of  any  traditionalism;  someone  who always attracted attention even by his so much loved “country-styled clothes”, unusual for the imperial court.

That is why the form of the book is also unusual: on one hand, the author did not eschew a detailed academic account of all the important events of Li Po’s life and creative work (necessary in any scientific research and unfortunately absent from any literary studies outside China); on the other hand, he attempted to recreate an image of the poet as a living being placed in the 3-D description of his time.

As a result, Li Po comes back to us alive, and we are not only able to read his poems, but we can follow the complicated process of their creation, we can glimpse into his soul, become aware of his passions, hopes and despairs, feel the core of the eternal conflict between the poetic and the mundane. This is the first attempt of such reconstruction of the great poet’s life outside his motherland.

 

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Li Po’s biography is divided into three major periods, marked by the principle changes in poet’s life and his world outlook: 701-744 CE; 744-755 CE; 755-763 CE. These are further subdivided into 9 shorter periods.

As an epilogue the book includes a historical survey of different approaches to Li Po’s poetry beginning with his time and up to the present – the research contributed to this book by Assistant Professor at Central University of Nationalities (Beijing) Dr. Liang Sen, a famous expert on Li Po’s poetry. The book is provided with detailed indexes of names and toponyms.

 

About the author TOROPTSEV Sergey A. (born 1940 ) –

 

Chief  researcher, Department of Spiritual Civilizations in Asia, Institute of Far Eastern Studies (IFES), Russian Academy of Sciences;

Prof., Dr. of sciences in history, Honoured Scholar of Russian Federation, Foreign member of Chinese research society of Li Po, member of Russian Union of Cinemadoers.

Translator of Chinese poetry and fiction (classical and modern)..

Published 15 books and about 200 articles on Chinese Culture (literature and cinema).

 

Contact: [email protected]

[email protected]

 

 

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