Stephen Owen (sinologist)
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Stephen Owen (born October 30, 1946) is an American
sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the e ...
specializing in Chinese literature, particularly Tang dynasty poetry and comparative poetics. He taught Chinese literature and comparative literature at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
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
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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 a member of
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...
. Owen graduated from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
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 people o ...
and held a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
, among many other awards and honors.Vita: Stephen Owen
/ref> In 2015, he completed a six-volume annotated translation of the complete poems of Du Fu. He was jointly awarded the 2018
Tang Prize The Tang Prize () is a set of biannual international awards bestowed in four fields: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Nomination and selection are conducted by an independent selection committee, whic ...
in Sinology with
Yoshinobu Shiba (born 20 October 1930) is a retired Japanese historian of China and professor emeritus of Osaka University, who specializes in Song dynasty history. A member of the Japan Academy, he has received the Order of Culture, Order of the Sacred Treasu ...
.


Scholarly 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. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernacular forms of the language, its poetry ...
. ''
Harvard Magazine ''Harvard Magazine'' is an independently edited magazine and separately incorporated affiliate of Harvard University. Aside from ''The Harvard Crimson'', it is the only publication covering the entire university, and also regularly distributed ...
'' reported in 1998 that colleagues see Owen as "a soaring and highly imaginative free spirit," comparing him to the eighth-century Chinese calligrapher Huaisu and to the foremost Tang dynasty poet, "the unfettered, convention-defying
Li Bai Li Bai (, 701–762), also pronounced as Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (), was a Chinese poet, acclaimed from his own time to the present as a brilliant and romantic figure who took traditional poetic forms to new heights. He and his friend Du F ...
..." Of ''The Poetry of Meng Chiao and Han Yü,'' James J. Y. Liu remarked 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 became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univer ...
, 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 Kang-i Sun Chang (born Sun K'ang-i, ; 21 February 1944), is a Chinese-born American sinologist. She is a scholar of classical Chinese literature. She is the inaugural Malcolm G. Chace Professor, and former chair of the Department of East Asian La ...
and Stephen Owen, eds. '' The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature'' Cambridge University Press, 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