The Dyer's Hand
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
In the book, Auden discusses, with his characteristic erudition, wit and clarity, writers from Shakespeare and Goethe to Kafka and Frost, and probes deeply into opera, painting and other art forms. His prose displays the close-reading skill of the New Criticism while brimming with personal taste and moral concern. Especially valuable are the many essays on subjects concerning the writer's own situation, such as "The Poet and the City," "The Craft of Writing," and "Masters and Disciples," which offer a unique perspective on modern poetry and the role of the intellectual.
For the reader, the value of this book lies in the model of intellectual dialogue it provides. Auden never pretends to be profound and refuses simple dogma. He leads the reader back and forth between concrete texts and abstract ideas, demonstrating how to face a great tradition and a complex present with humility and firmness. Reading The Dyer's Hand is to learn not only how to read literature but also how to examine the world and oneself through literary eyes. This edition from Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a translation of high quality that conveys the essence of Auden's style well, making it a key text for the Chinese-speaking world to understand the thought of this important twentieth-century critic.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Deep readers with a strong interest in modern poetry, literary criticism and Western intellectual history
- Literature lovers or writers who wish to sharpen their close-reading and critical thinking skills
- Readers who appreciate a prose style that is erudite, witty, clear and full of personal insight
- Explorers seeking to understand the spiritual world and artistic ideas of twentieth-century intellectuals
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting a coherent, story-driven novel
- Beginners hoping for a quick guide to simple literary theory or writing techniques
Reading tips
- There is no need to read from cover to cover; pick chapters by interest from the table of contents, since most of Auden's essays stand alone and are highly illuminating.
- It helps to have some basic knowledge of the writers and works mentioned, or to be ready to look up relevant material, to appreciate the finesse of his argument.
- Read alongside Auden's poetry to understand more fully how his poetics and his creative practice echo each other.
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 前言
- 第一辑 序篇
- 阅读
- 写作
- 第二辑 染匠之手
- 创作、认知与判断
- 贞女与发电机
- 诗人与城市
- 第三辑 纳喀索斯之井
- 此和彼
- 巴兰和他的驴
- 罪恶的牧师之家
- 缺失自身的我
- 第四辑 莎士比亚之城
- 世界
- 王子的狗
- 附言：希望的游戏
- 兄弟和他人
- 幕间表演：韦斯特之病
- 恶作剧者
- 附言：地狱的科学
- 第五辑 两个寓言
- D.H.劳伦斯
- 玛丽安娜·摩尔
- 第六辑 美国
- 美国景象
- 附言：罗马对蒙蒂塞罗
- 白马的红绶带
- 附言：全能的美元
- 罗伯特·弗罗斯特
- 美国诗歌
- 第七辑 珀耳修斯之盾
- 关于喜剧性的笔记
- 唐璜
- 丁格莱谷和弗利特
- 附言：轻佻与庄重
- 天才与使徒
- 附言：基督教与艺术
- 第八辑 向斯特拉文斯基致敬
- 关于音乐与歌剧的笔记
- 骑士与小丑
- 翻译歌剧剧本
- 莎士比亚作品中的音乐
FAQ
How is this book different from common literary theory textbooks?
Can I understand this book without a deep background in Western literature?
What exactly does "The Dyer's Hand" in the title mean?
Comments
Find this book
This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
W. H. Auden is a major English-language poet of the twentieth century whose poetry and criticism have been continuously translated and introduced in the Chinese-speaking world. This site carries eleven of his works, spanning poetry, essays and prefaces, including the three-volume Collected Poems, Selected Poems: 1927–1947 and Selected Poems: 1948–1973, the lyric selection As I Walked Out One Evening, prose collections such as The Dyer's Hand and The Forewords and Afterwords, and the anthology A Garden of Migration: 101 Auden Poems. These works range widely, combining close observation of modern society and politics with meditation on love, faith and the human condition; his language is witty and formally varied, marked by cool irony and precise metre. Because public information is limited, biographical details are omitted here, but readers may approach both his poetry and prose to appreciate his craft, his critical eye and his lasting influence on later poets.
