This is a smart, funny graphic novel exploring the life, legend, and lore of two
of the greatest poets in Chinese history-Han Shan (known as "Cold Mountain") an
d Shih Te-who reportedly lived during the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE). They were c
ritics of authority (both secular and religious) and champions of social justice
who left their poetry on tree trunks and rocks. They were also reportedly monas
tics, drunks, cave dwellers, immortals, and many other wild and wondrous things.
There is much delightful uncertainty about this "Laughing Pair"-including wheth
er or not they actually existed. What is known is that the poetry attributed to
them was greatly influential in both China and Japan, and to the Beat writers in
the United States during the 1950s and '60s.
