Shishuo xinyu 世說新語 (Recent Accounts from the Talks of the Ages) is one of the most important collections of anecdote in Chinese culture.1 Richard B. Mather published a complete English translation of the book, and Nanxiu Qian has written a comprehensive monograph on the Shishuo.2 In the introduction to Jack Chen's book, he discusses the important role the Shishuo played in building the literary community of the “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest” (Zhulin qixian 竹林七賢), which in turn is an important window into Wei-Jin literature and culture. Chen then discusses the translations of the book title by several scholars, such as Richard Mather, Albert Dien, and Graham Sanders, which, he argues, reflect different understandings of the book's title and content. The key question in translating the title is whether shishuo modifies xinyu or is parallel with xinyu. Chen argues for the former, because xinyu...

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