Before Confucius: Studies in the Creation of the Chinese Classics (Suny Series, Chinese Philosophy & Culture) by Edward L. Shaughnessy - 1997

Condition: clean copy.
Content: The author examines the original composition of China's oldest books, the 'Class of Change', the 'Venerated Documents,' and the 'Classic of Poetry,'. by Describing the original contexts in which these books were written and what they meant to their original authors and readers, this work sheds light on both the degree to which Chinese culture already was literate by 1000 BC and also on how the later classical tradition eventually diverged from these origins.
262 pages, selected bibliography, index.