Timothy Billings
Twenty-Nine Goodbyes: An Introduction to Chinese Poetry.
Fordham University Press, 2025. Author-signed first printing. 9781531508357 vii/186 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 5.5" x 8.5", is bound in light gray paper spine and boards, with stamped black lettering to spine. Book and dust jacket are like new. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
Inscription, dated December 2024, appears on front flyleaf.
"A primer for those with no previous knowledge of Chinese, this book introduces readers to the fundamentals of classical Chinese poetry through twenty-nine ways of understanding a single poem. “Seeing Off a Friend,” by the great Tang poet Li Bai (701–762) has long been praised for its vividness, subtlety, and poignancy. Anthologizing twenty-nine translations of the poem, Timothy Billings not only introduces the poem’s richness and depth but also the nuanced art of translating Chinese poetry into European languages."