For over 140 years, so far, publications originating in East Asia have been assembled in libraries in the U.S. and Canada in ways that until fairly recently were independent of one another. Early catalog-card distribution by the U. S. Library of Congress, along with printed library catalogs, did allow for the distribution of information about publications and library holdings. But until the internet drastically altered how information was created and shared, academic libraries developed nearly autonomously, relying heavily on publishers, faculty, and graduate students to alert librarians to lacunae in their collections. Libraries still do that to some extent, but accepting libraries as stand-alone institutions within larger institutions is obsolete thinking.
And yet, all collections are unique in the ways they were developed, in the stories of the people who built them, and in their idiosyncrasies. All of that is recorded in this volume and is supplemented by copious notes and bibliographies and many visual images of texts, libraries, and the personalities, some quite unusual, who have had lasting influences on the libraries that no doubt also had lasting influences on them.
The genesis of this collection of essays on the histories of the 25 oldest East Asian libraries in North America is explained by the editor in his preface:
The idea of publishing a volume on the history of East Asian collections in the United States and Canada over the past 140 years came about in October 2007, when the head of more than twenty East Asian libraries met at the University of California, Berkeley, for a two-day symposium on the topic. The event coincided with the dedication of the university’s newly completed C. V. Starr East Asian Library and Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies, the first library building ever constructed in North America specifically to house an East Asian collection. [p. xi]
The historical essays in this volume are presented in the chronological order in which the East Asian collections are considered to have been established, although real dates of “founding” might be open to interpretation.
One of the delights that the editor and the designers created is a whole page image, opposite the dedication statement, of photos of some of the librarians who were instrumental in founding or expanding individual collections, librarians such as Gussie Gaskill (Cornell), Kaiming Chiu and Eugene Wu (Harvard-Yenching), Naomi Fukuda (Michigan), Elizabeth Huff (California-Berkeley), T. H. Tsien (Chicago), Mary Wright (Hoover Institution, Stanford), Kan’ichi Asakawa (Yale) and other iconic figures who led the development of major collections.
A chronology of the development of the twenty-five East Asian collections highlighted in this collection precedes the text, as does a timeline of East Asian history. Appendix A lists major East Asian Collections in North American institutions in alphabetical order with information on the size of their holdings as of June 2008; and a ranking list, by size of collections, of those libraries. Appendix B lists the acquisitions budgets of each of the collections. The book, which is indexed, is available from the Association for Asian Studies (www.asian-studies.org). The chapter titles and the text authors are listed below.
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翻开这本书,我立刻被其语言的音乐性所吸引。这不是那种平铺直叙、旨在告知信息的文字,而是一种充满韵律和张力的散文诗。作者在遣词造句上达到了出神入化的地步,尤其擅长运用那些不常见却又精准无比的词汇,将原本可能平淡无奇的场景渲染得华丽而富有张力。举个例子,描述某地山脉时,他用的词汇不是“高耸”或“雄伟”,而是“嶙峋的骨骼在云海中挣扎”,这种拟人化的手法立刻赋予了山脉生命力。再看人物对话的描摹,那种基于文化背景产生的微妙的、心照不宣的停顿和省略,被捕捉得丝丝入扣,让人感觉仿佛真的置身于那种语言环境之中。这种语言上的极致追求,使得阅读本身成为一种极大的享受。我时常会因为某个句子结构的美感而停下来,反复咀嚼,甚至会去查阅那些生僻但贴切的词义。这使得我的阅读速度慢了下来,但这恰恰是好事,因为它迫使我去细细品味那些文字构建出的感官盛宴。这本书的文字,本身就是一种值得收藏的艺术品,它超越了单纯的内容传递,上升到了美学体验的层面。
评分我得说,这本书的结构简直是匠心独运,它完全颠覆了我对传统游记的认知。作者似乎完全抛弃了传统的地域顺序或时间线索,而是采用了一种更像是意识流的碎片化叙事结构。每一章都像是一块精心打磨的宝石,虽然独立存在,却又通过某种看不见的、内在的逻辑相互呼应,形成一个宏大而复杂的整体。比如,第一部分对某个特定手工艺品的深度挖掘,其详尽程度堪比人类学田野调查报告,从原料的产地到制作的每一个微小步骤都交代得一清二楚;而紧接着的下一章,却可能是一个极其浪漫化、充满诗意的哲学探讨,讨论的是“时间”在不同文明中的意义。这种风格的剧烈跳跃,初读时可能会让人有些许不适,但一旦适应了这种跳跃感,就会发现其中蕴含的巨大信息密度和思想深度。它强迫读者主动去建立章节之间的联系,去构建属于自己的理解框架,这极大地增强了阅读的主动性和智力参与感。书中对于某些文化习俗的批判性视角也相当犀利,绝非盲目的赞美,而是带着一种审慎的、学者的冷静,使得全书的基调既热情洋溢又不失理性的光芒。
评分我必须要称赞这本书在处理复杂文化冲突时的那种近乎外科手术般的精确和克制。作者似乎在处理敏感议题时,始终保持着一种超然的、多角度的审视,完全避免了简单粗暴的“好人”与“坏人”的二元对立标签化处理。在描述不同信仰群体间的张力时,他不会轻易站队,而是细致入微地剖析了造成冲突的社会经济根源、历史误解的累积,甚至是日常生活中因文化差异导致的微小摩擦。这种处理方式的难度极高,但作者完成得非常出色,呈现出的是一幅充满灰色地带的真实图景。我记得有一章专门探讨了全球化浪潮对当地传统生活方式的冲击,作者并未简单地将全球化描绘成一个吞噬一切的怪物,而是展示了当地人如何以一种既抗拒又吸收的复杂心态去适应变化,展示了文化在压力下的韧性与变异。这种对复杂性的拥抱和对细微差别的敏锐捕捉,使得这本书的论述具有极强的说服力和深度,它不提供简单的答案,而是引导读者去提出更深刻的问题。读完之后,你会感觉自己对这个世界多了一层理解的滤镜,看待任何冲突都能多一份同理心和辩证思维。
评分这本书最让我印象深刻的一点,在于它对于“失落”与“记忆”这两个主题的深刻挖掘。它不像许多旅行文学那样聚焦于发现“新奇”或“奇观”,反而是将目光投向那些正在消逝的角落,那些被主流历史叙事所忽略的微小文明的残片。作者似乎对“遗忘”这一主题有着近乎痴迷的关注,他花了大量篇幅去记录那些濒临失传的手艺、正在被现代建筑取代的古老街区,以及那些只存在于老人口中却找不到文字记载的民间传说。这种记录行为本身就带有一种强烈的挽歌式的悲剧色彩。比如,有一段文字描绘了一个偏远村落中最后一位编织者,她指尖的动作缓慢而精准,但她的技艺却注定无法传承下去,那种无力感和历史的必然性交织在一起,非常动人。书中充斥着对“不再存在”之物的追忆,这种追忆并非是伤感的停滞不前,而是一种对生命短暂和文化脆弱性的深刻反思。它提醒我们,我们所见的繁荣背后,往往隐藏着无数不为人知的消亡故事。这种冷静的悲悯情怀,让全书的调性显得格外厚重和耐人寻味。
评分这本书的叙事手法真是让人眼前一亮,作者似乎毫不费力地就能将读者带入到那个遥远的、充满异域风情的场景之中。我记得有几个篇章,描述的是中亚某个古老商队在沙漠中跋涉的场景,那种炙热的阳光、漫天的黄沙,以及旅人对绿洲的渴望,都被描绘得淋漓尽致。你几乎能闻到空气中弥漫的香料和尘土的味道。更妙的是,作者并没有沉溺于纯粹的景物描写,而是巧妙地穿插了人物的内心独白和历史的片段。比如,在一个描绘丝绸之路节点的章节里,主人公对贸易的变迁和文化交融的思考,层次感极强。这不仅仅是一本旅行见闻录,更像是一部流动的历史画卷。它成功地将宏大的历史背景与微小的个人体验编织在一起,使得阅读过程充满了发现的乐趣。我特别欣赏作者在捕捉那些转瞬即逝的瞬间时的细腻笔触,无论是清晨集市上的一声吆喝,还是黄昏时分寺庙里传来的悠远钟声,都显得那样真实可感,仿佛触手可及。这本书的节奏控制也恰到好处,时而舒缓悠长,时而又因突发事件而变得紧张刺激,牢牢抓住了读者的注意力,让人不得不一口气读完。
评分了解北美圖書館藏的窗戶。
评分了解北美圖書館藏的窗戶。
评分了解北美圖書館藏的窗戶。
评分了解北美圖書館藏的窗戶。
评分了解北美圖書館藏的窗戶。
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