Li Zhi, “A Book To Burn And A Book To Keep (Hidden): Selected Writings” (Columbia UP, 2016)

Rivi Handler-Spitz, Pauline C. Lee, and Haun Saussy have created a wonderful resource for readers, researchers, students, and teachers alike. A Book To Burn And A Book To Keep (Hidden): Selected Writings (Columbia University Press, 2016) collects and translates a range of works by Li Zhi, a fascinating and significant figure in the history of China and its literatures. His most famous books, A Book to Burn (likely first pub in 1590) and Another Book to Burn (first published posthumously in 1618), make up the focus of the work translated for this volume, which also includes other materials. In the course of our conversation we talked both about the volume and its wonderful collected contents, and also about practices of and approaches to translation more generally.

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