Snapshot from the Reviews: Spirit and Self in Medieval China

Qian Nanxiu 錢南秀. Spirit and Self in Medieval China: The Shih-shuo hsin-yu and its Legacy. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001.

This snapshot from the review literature is interesting because there is such a wide variety of reviews, positive, negative and neutral. I'm actually not sure how often this happens; in the last few months I have seen many books whose reviews are much more closely aligned in charge and tone. I also wonder just how much a strongly negative review hurts an author, personally and professionally. I actually have a conjecture about that, and Prof. Waltner may have given me a bit of evidence to chew on. More on this later (probably much later, given my stack of work).



Sujane Wu: "A fascinating, meticulous study"

Birrell: "Sinology owes Professor Qian a vote of thanks."

Rouzer: "OK, nothing special"

Zhou Yiqun: "Gross distortion of large historical pictures and shocking ignorance about basic texts leave Qian's book with little scholarly value. Adding to my frustration is its dreadful style, which is marked by awkward and confusing terms and funny sentences. Gross distortion of large historical pictures and shocking ignorance about basic texts leave Qian's book with little scholarly value. Adding to my frustration is its dreadful style, which is marked by awkward and confusing terms and funny sentences."