About

MOSS ROBERTS Came to NYU in 1968 as Assistant Professor of Chinese in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literature (now Near Eastern Studies) after serving for two years as assistant professor in the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. Professor Roberts has translated the classic novel Three Kingdoms, published by University of California Press in both unabridged (California, 1991, 2000, copublished with Foreign Languages Press) and abridged (California, 1999) editions. He is also the editor and translator of Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies (1979).

Ph.D. 1966 (Chinese), Columbia
M.A. 1960 (English), Columbia
B.A. 1958, Columbia

Areas of Research/Interest

  • Classical Chinese language, literature and philosophy
  • Modern and Contemporary History

Fellowships/Honors

  • Golden Dozen Teaching Award, Spring 1996
  • National Endowment for the Arts, 1983-84
  • Columbia University Translation Center, 1983, 1993
  • National Endowment for the Humanities, 1985-86
The good and bad
that are in human nature,
the joy and grief
that are in fate and destiny–
do not attribute them to
the movement
of heavenly bodies;
for according to the path of science,
the stars are a thousand times
more helpless than you.
RUBIYAT of Omar Khayyam