Book Description
The 13th century Secret History of the Mongols, covering the great Èinggis Qan’s (1162-1227) ancestry and life, stands out as a literary monument of first magnitude. Written partly in prose and partly in epic poetry, it is the major native source on Èinggis Qan, also dealing with part of the reign of his son and successor Ögödei (1229-41). This true handbook contains an historical introduction, a full translation of the chronicle in accessible English, plus an extensive commentary. Indispensable for the historian, the Sino-Mongolist, the Altaic philologist, and anyone interested in comparative literature and Central Asian folklore.
About the Author
Igor De Rachewiltz, Ph.D. (1961) in Chinese History, The Australian National University, has published extensively on the political and cultural history of China and Mongolia in the 12th-14th centuries, and on Sino-Mongolian philology. He is at present a Visiting Fellow in the Pacific and Asian History Division of the ANU.
Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century FROM THE PUBLISHER
The present translation of the famous thirteenth century epic chronicle known as the Secret History of the Mongols is the product of thirty years' continuous investigation of this difficult text. Over 1,300 primary and secondary sources, as well as monographs and essays in many languages, have been consulted by the author who is a specialist in Sino-Mongolian Studies at the Australian National University, Canberra. Its chief value lies in the historical and philological commentary accompanying the translation, by far the most extensive of its kind. The translation itself, while close to the original, is at the same time eminently readable. The lengthy introduction provides a valuable and original insight into the history of the text and its importance as a historical source and literary monument. The three comprehensive indices (of names, subjects, grammar and lexis) also make this book a useful reference work for research on a variety of subjects related to Central Asia and China in the 12th and 13th centuries.
SYNOPSIS
This massive translation and commentary are the result of years of labor by Rachewiltz (for decades he directed the Yüan Biographical Project at the Australian National U.), who had published an earlier version of the translation in Papers on Far Eastern History (a journal published by the Australian National U., between 1971-1985). The present two-volume text contains the wholly revised translation, a 100-page introduction to the work, and three indexes. The most substantial part of the work is the magisterial commentary which follows the translation. The line-by-line commentary contains a detailed history of the figures, events, traditions, places, and other elements mentioned in the text, and an exhaustive analysis of the language, with bibliography, variants (Chinese characters have been included throughout for those variants), and non-Mongol sources cited for each entry. The translation is lively and readable, bringing the 13th-century tales of the great conqueror Genghis Khan and his merry band to the English reader. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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