Beacon Fire and Shooting Star

"The Liang dynasty is both one of the most brilliant and creative periods in Chinese history and one of the most underestimated and misunderstood." "This book is devoted to contextualizing the literary culture of this era - not only the literary works themselves but also the physical process of literary production such as the copying and transmitting of texts; activities such as book collecting, anthologizing, cataloging, and various forms of literary scholarship; and the intricate interaction of religion, particularly Buddhism, and literature. Its aim is to explore the impact of social and political structure on the literary world. It is, in short, a social and cultural history of Liang literature that addresses a set of interrelated cultural and literary-historical issues, re-evaluates and challenges established claims about this period, and explores the reasons for its subsequent neglect and denigration."--BOOK JACKET.