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The Burden of Female Talent: The Poet Li Qingzhao and Her History in China . By Ronald Egan . Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Asia Center , 2013. ix, 422 pp. $59.95 (cloth).
Book Reviews--China
Ronald Egan's book on the greatest Chinese woman poet Li Qingzhao æ... (1084-ca. 1155) is simply brilliant. It contributes to our knowledge of the subject in several significant ways. In recent years, Li Qingzhao has again emerged as the focus of scholarly attention in China, as may be seen in major publications by such authors as Chen Zumei ... (in 2001), Zhuge Yibing ... (in 2004), and Deng Hongmei ... (in 2005). But none of these books have taken the same approach as Egan's, and I believe that Egan is the first scholar in any language to have studied Li Qingzhao in such a thorough and meticulous way. The book manages to be specific and broad-ranging at the same time.
First of all, the book gives innovative rereadings of Li Qingzhao that will change the conventional reading of the woman poet. Egan shows how this unique woman poet was committed to recording her experiences in writing, at a time when Chinese gentry...