Stephen Owen (sinologist)
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Stephen Owen (born October 30, 1946) is an American
sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...
specializing in
Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202  ...
, particularly
Tang dynasty poetry Tang poetry () refers to poetry written in or around the time of or in the characteristic style of China's Tang dynasty, (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907, including the 690–705 reign of Wu Zetian) and/or follows a certain style, often considered a ...
and comparative poetics. He taught Chinese literature and comparative literature at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and is James Bryant Conant University Professor, Emeritus; becoming emeritus before he was one of only 25 Harvard University Professors. He is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
and the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
.


Education

Owen graduated from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
in 1968 and continued at Yale as a graduate student, receiving his doctorate in 1972 under Hans Fränkel. He taught at Yale from 1972 to 1982, when he went to Harvard. He has been a
Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...
and received a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
, among many other awards and honors.Vita: Stephen Owen
/ref> In 2015, he completed a six-volume annotated translation of the complete surviving poems of
Du Fu Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Chinese poet and politician during the Tang dynasty. Together with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai, Du is often considered one of the greatest Chinese poets of his time. His greatest ambition was to serve ...
, culminating an eight-year project. He was jointly awarded the 2018
Tang Prize The Tang Prize ( zh, c=唐獎) is a set of Taiwanese biennial international awards bestowed in four fields: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Nomination and selection are conducted by an independent se ...
in Sinology with Yoshinobu Shiba, "for his penetrating scholarship and theoretical ingenuity in Classical Chinese prose and poetry, especially Tang poetry and its translation."


Academic career

Owen has written or edited dozens of books, articles, and anthologies in the field of Chinese literature, especially
Chinese poetry Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, and a part of the Chinese literature. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernac ...
. ''
Harvard Magazine ''Harvard Magazine'' is an independently edited magazine and separately incorporated affiliate of Harvard University. It is the only publication covering the entire university and regularly distributed to all graduates, faculty, and staff. The ...
'' reported in 1998 that colleagues saw Owen as "a soaring and highly imaginative free spirit," comparing him to the eighth-century Chinese calligrapher
Huaisu 250px, One of Huai Su's surviving works Huaisu (, 737–799), courtesy name Zangzhen (), was a Buddhist monk and calligrapher of the Tang dynasty, famous for his cursive calligraphy. Fewer than 10 pieces of his works have survived. One of his ...
and to the foremost Tang dynasty poet, "the unfettered, convention-defying
Li Bai Li Bai (, 701–762), Literary and colloquial readings, also pronounced Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (), was a Chinese poet acclaimed as one of the greatest and most important poets of the Tang dynasty and in Chinese history as a whole. He and hi ...
..." Of ''The Poetry of Meng Chiao and Han Yü,'' James J. Y. Liu said that it "represents a remarkable achievement, especially for a first book..." A reviewer in '' China Review International'' wrote "reading Stephen Owen's ''The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry'' shocked me, the way a seismic shift in paradigms will."David McCraw. "''The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry'' (review)." ''China Review International'' 14.2 (2007): 355-359. ''Project MUSE''. Web. 16 Apr. 2013

/ref>


Selected publications

* ''The Poetry of Meng Chiao and Han Yü.'' New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
, 1975. . * ''The Poetry of the Early T'ang.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977. . ** Revised Edition, Quirin Press 2012, . * ''The Great Age of Chinese Poetry : The High T'ang.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981. . ** Revised Edition, Quirin Press 2013, . * ''Traditional Chinese Poetry and Poetics: Omen of the World.'' Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985. . * ''Remembrances: The Experience of the Past in Classical Chinese Literature.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1986. (alk. paper). * ''Mi-Lou : Poetry and the Labyrinth of Desire.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature, 1989. (alk. paper). * ''Readings in Chinese Literary Thought.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Council on East Asian Studies Distributed by Harvard University Press, Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, 1992. . * ''An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911.'' New York: W.W. Norton, 1st, 1996. . * ''The End of the Chinese 'Middle Ages': Essays in Mid-Tang Literary Culture.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996. (alk. paper) (pbk. alk. paper). * ''The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827-860).'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center : Distributed by Harvard University Press, Harvard East Asian Monographs, 2006.. * ''The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: published by the Harvard University Asia Center: Distributed by Harvard University Press, Harvard East Asian Monographs, 2006. . * Kang-i Sun Chang and Stephen Owen, eds. '' The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature,''
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 2010.


See also

* List of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 1986


References


External links


Stephen Owen's profile at Harvard


{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Stephen Living people 1946 births Yale College alumni Harvard University faculty Linguists from the United States American sinologists Literary translators Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni