Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel

"A material epic with an astonishing fidelity to history."--New York Times Book Review

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. Writing some twelve hundred years later, the Ming author Luo Guanzhong drew on histories, dramas, and 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 and unsparing view of how power is wielded, how diplomacy is conducted, and how wars are planned and 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, and Vietnam and remains a great work of world literature.

ISBN-13: 9780520344556

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: University of California Press

Publication Date: 05-12-2020

Pages: 478

Product Dimensions: 7.70h x 5.40w x 1.70d

Series: World Literature in Translation

Moss Roberts is Professor of Chinese at New York University. He translated Dao De Jing and an unabridged edition of Three Kingdoms and is the translator and editor of Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies.