A monograph on Chinese poetry of the Ming dynasty is long overdue. Professor Bryant's new book finally fills this gap, and also redresses the balance in the current scholarship on Ming literature. He reminds us that, contrary to the dominant May Fourth interpretation which overemphasized the rise of vernacular literature in late imperial China, “the dominant forms of writing in Chinese, right down to the beginning of the twentieth century, were poetry and prose in the Classical language” (p. 561). By focusing on the life and the world of the mid-Ming Archaist poet Ho Ching-ming (He Jingming, 1483–1521), Bryant also aims to depart from the usual emphases given to the first and last few decades of the dynasty and on what happened in southern China. The resulting book is a scrupulous effort that greatly extends our understanding of the literary world of China in the north and in the mid Ming.

The book provides, in the author's own words, “a full, even a ‘thick’, account of Ho Ching-ming's life and the world he lived in” (p. xvii). This is well supported and enhanced by Bryant's translations of a vast number of Ho's writings (mostly poems). Chronology is at the centre of the book. Ho's life is assiduously traced through the twelve chapters of the book based on Bryant's meticulous dating and chronological arrangement of Ho's writings. This study represents the culmination of the scholarship of a literary historian who has worked on Ho Ching-ming for many years. The serious reader should read it alongside Bryant's earlier Chinese monograph titled Ho Ching-ming Ts'ung-k'ao (He Jingming congkao, Collected Studies of He Jingming) (Taipei: Xuesheng shuju, 1997), which in many ways lays the foundation for the book under review.

Interwoven into the life story of Ho Ching-ming are Bryant's careful readings and analyses of Ho's poems throughout the chapters. It appears that rather than imposing his own opinions and arguments, Bryant prefers to allow the life of Ho and his writings to speak to the reader, which explains the tremendous amount of rich primary source material translated and included in this book. In fact, it is often when chronology becomes inadequate, for example in the years 1509–1511 during which datable texts are scarce, that we see Bryant break from the biographical narrative and address the significance of Ho's poems more directly. Another exception is in chapter 9 where Bryant once again steps out of the chronological account to give a full discussion of Ho's role in the Archaist movement. This chapter provides an illuminating account of what we often call Archaism in the mid Ming, and reassesses the role of the major figures involved, including that of the influential transitional figure Li Tung-yang (Li Dongyang, 1447–1516). It also includes an excellent discussion of the debates between the two Archaists, Ho and Li Meng-yang (Li Mengyang, 1475–1529), as well as a brief but very interesting comparison between Archaism in literature and in art history. The book's title, The Great Recreation, comes from Ho's literary name (hao), Ta-fu (Dafu), but also points more broadly to the significance of Ho in the literary world of the sixteenth century, especially in terms of his role in the Archaist movement.

The four substantial appendixes at the end of the book contain very helpful materials in various aspects. Appendix 1 discusses the characteristics and evolution of the various biographies of Ho Ching-ming. Appendix 2 gives a survey of the textual issues in the different editions of Ho's works. This is a concise and updated (see, for example, p. 634 n. 49) version of the full information found in the author's earlier Chinese monograph. Readers should certainly not miss an excellent discussion on the misleading label of “The seven masters of the Ming” in Appendix 3, which fully develops the argument Bryant put forth briefly earlier in his chapter on “Poetry of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries”, in Victor H. Mair (ed.), The Columbia History of Chinese Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001). Finally, Appendix 4 provides us with a handy finding list of the over 200 complete and partial translations of Ho's writings included in the book.

Considering that Chinese poetry of later dynasties is less often anthologized and translated, the huge number of translations of Ho Ching-ming's poems in the book, as well as serving to provide a “thick” account of Ho's life, are in themselves a major contribution and a real treat for the reader. In addition, translations are often followed by informative glosses on the allusions and literary sources used in the poems, which are not only extremely helpful to the reader, but also fitting for a study on the continuity and recreation of Archaist poetics. The transcription of the poet's name as Ho Ching-ming in the book title should alert any reader unfamiliar with the old Wade-Giles romanization system. Throughout the book, Bryant chooses to use Wade-Giles rather than pinyin, for reasons explained in his preface and also argued more specifically elsewhere in his two earlier articles (p. xxi).

Bryant's The Great Recreation is a major contribution that not only introduces us to the often neglected world of literature and poetics in mid-Ming China, but also asks broader questions about literary historiography. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the Ming dynasty and in Chinese poetry, and the exemplary scholarship demonstrated throughout the book will undoubtedly reward its readers.