Three Kingdoms, also known as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" & "San Guo Yan Yi" is a brand NEW, complete 4 volume paperback boxed set. Author: Luo Guanzhong, Translator: Moss Roberts. Total 2340 pages, published by Foreign Language Press, 2001 NEW edition. Three Kingdoms tells the story of the fateful last reign of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) when the Chinese empire was divided into three warring kingdoms. Written some twelve hundred years later, the Ming author Luo Guanzhong drew on histories, dramas, & poems portraying the crisis to fashion a sophisticated, compelling narrative that has become the Chinese national epic. This abridged edition captures the novel's intimate & unsparing view of how power is wielded, how diplomacy is conducted, & how wars are planned & fought. As important for Chinese culture as the Homeric epics have been for the West, this Ming dynasty masterpiece continues to be widely influential in China, Korea, Japan, & Vietnam & remains a great work of world literature. References to the theories of Lao Tzu "Tao Te Ching" & Sun Tzu's Art of War frequent Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In fact Cao Cao, one of the main characters of Romance did commnetary on the Art of War that is still read today along side the text. Many Kung Fu practitioners or those interested in Martial Arts will find great inspiration in the warriors of ancient China who dominate the action in this series. "The subject matter of Three Kingdoms has long held an extraordinary grip on the Chinese imagination. . . . No less an authority than Mao Zedong asserted that when he set out on the campaigns that would ultimately bring him to power, Three Kingdoms was the book he valued most." -Patrick Hanan, New York Times Book Review- "Three Kingdoms gives us the Iliad of China. First of the five great works of traditional prose fiction, this master narrative transforms history into epic & has thereby educated and entertained readers of five centuries with unforgettable exemplars of martial & civic virtue, of personal fidelity & political treachery. Moss Roberts's translation is of surpassing excellence & impeccable scholarship. It should delight & captivate Western readers for many years to come." -Anthony C. Yu, University of Chicago- |
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