In Chinese tradition, poetry and painting are an inseparable tandem. Joanne Wang and Alfred Corn have collaborated on this volume of translations, placing poems next to new paintings done by Joanne Wang in both a traditional and a modern style. Instead of a comprehensive anthology, this is a selection of classic poems chosen in accordance with the taste of the translators. The result presents the two arts in imaginative cooperation, providing an opportunity to experience poetry and painting as the audience in Chinese culture traditionally encountered them. The new versions of familiar poems are remarkable for their accuracy and fluency, and the paintings introduce a brilliant new Chinese-American artist to the public.
