The Confusions of Pleasure

Timothy Brook is Professor of History at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China (1993), and Quelling the People: The Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement (1992), and the coeditor of Nation Work: Asian Elites and National Identities (1999) and China and Historical Capitalism: Genealogies of Sinological Knowledge (1999).

出版者:University of California Press

作者:Timothy Brook

页数:345

出版时间:1999-9-1

价格:USD 29.95

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780520221543

图书标签:海外中国研究历史卜正民汉学纵乐的困惑明朝HistoryMing

The Ming dynasty was the last great Chinese dynasty before the Manchu conquest in 1644. During that time, China, not Europe, was the center of the world: the European voyages of exploration were searching not just for new lands but also for new trade routes to the Far East. In this book, Timothy Brook eloquently narrates the changing landscape of life over the three centuries of the Ming (1368-1644), when China was transformed from a closely administered agrarian realm into a place of commercial profits and intense competition for status.

The Confusions of Pleasure marks a significant departure from the conventional ways in which Chinese history has been written. Rather than recounting the Ming dynasty in a series of political events and philosophical achievements, it narrates this longue durée in terms of the habits and strains of everyday life. Peppered with stories of real people and their negotiations of a rapidly changing world, this book provides a new way of seeing the Ming dynasty that not only contributes to the scholarly understanding of the period but also provides an entertaining and accessible introduction to Chinese history for anyone.

读后感

明代有时候感觉很近，但有时候却感觉很远。“明清”几乎成为现今人尽皆知的时代名词，几乎所有人都能如数家珍般列举出一些这个时代的历史大事件，但是如果再细致一点追问的话，那么几乎所有人都会感到困惑。明代是世界近代史的开端，但是明初却离我们已近700年，这700年的跨度...  

明代有时候感觉很近，但有时候却感觉很远。“明清”几乎成为现今人尽皆知的时代名词，几乎所有人都能如数家珍般列举出一些这个时代的历史大事件，但是如果再细致一点追问的话，那么几乎所有人都会感到困惑。明代是世界近代史的开端，但是明初却离我们已近700年，这700年的跨度...  

《纵乐的困惑》是一本描述正在发生巨大商业变化的国度的文化史，主题是在中国历史中的某个“长时段”（ longue duree）里财富所带来的快乐及其所触发的困惑。卜正民借用晚明的歙县县令张涛（湖北黄陂人，ps，最近看的好多历史里都有湖北人的出现）《歙县志》中的四季循环的比喻...  

This work is wittily woven together with the four seasons as four chapters, resonating with the rise and fall of the Ming dynasty. It is meant to be a cultural history of the dynasty. To this purpose, it adopts some historical people’s perspective(Dramatis...  

用户评价

以前一直以为这本书叫Confucius of Pleasure =.= 这本明史很有意思 开的角度很小 看起来轻松多了..原来还被三联翻译成《纵乐的困惑：明代的商业与文化》过，读到后面觉得有点disorder，扣一星

以前一直以为这本书叫Confucius of Pleasure =.= 这本明史很有意思 开的角度很小 看起来轻松多了..原来还被三联翻译成《纵乐的困惑：明代的商业与文化》过，读到后面觉得有点disorder，扣一星

老师真的很帅啊……又很会说故事~具体参见范金民和其学生的书评~

Simmel on fashion

作者说此书是写《剑桥中国史》的余料而成。确实像写通史的那种感觉，趣味有深度就欠缺了。