Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures gathers twenty-five stories from Pu Songling’s collection of more than four hundred short stories-exquisitely amusing miniatures that are regarded as the pinnacle of classical Chinese fiction. His work departed from the prevailing literary fashion that was dominated by more realistic stories written in the colloquial language. Pu instead wrote his stories in the classical idiom, freely adopting forms and themes from the old ‘marvel tales’ of the Tang and Song dynasties. Although Pu lived and died as an obscure provincial schoolteacher, his work gained fame when it was first printed in 1766, some fifty years after his death, inspiring many imitations and creating a new vogue for classical stories. His tales have not only spawned translations, adaptations, and sequels, but have also inspired world-renowned writers such as Franz Kafka, Lafcadio Hearn, Jorge Luis Borges, and Mo Yan.
Pu’s tales are populated with ghosts, foxes, immortals, and demons, but he focused on the everyday life of commoners. He used the supernatural and the unexplainable to illustrate his ideas of society and government, to criticize the corruption and injustice in society, and sympathized with the poor. Pu is concerned with four main themes: the skewed feudal system, the corrupt examination system of his day, the love between poor scholars and powerless women, and reforming bad behavior. He embedded Confucian-styled moral standards and Taoist principles into parables but the enduring genius of his writing is that it never fails to entertain even as it aims to enlighten.
İçerik tablosu
Contents
Preface vii
The Ghost in Love 3
The Fresco 8
The Dwarf Hunters 12
The Corpse the Blood-Drinker 14
Love Rewarded 18
The Woman in Green 22
The Fault and Its Consequences 24
Deceiving Shadows 27
Peaceful-Light 31
Hong the Currier 35
Autumn-Moon 41
The Princess Nelumbo 45
The Two Brothers 48
The Marble Arch 51
The Dutiful Son 59
Through Many Lives 61
The River of Sorrows 63
The Mysterious Island 66
The Spirit of the River 69
The-Devils-of-the-Ocean 72
Unknown Devils 76
Childless 79
The Patch of Lamb’s Skin 82
Love’s Slave 85
The Laughing Ghost 89
Biographical Note 92
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George Soulié de Morant (1878-1955) was a French scholar and diplomat. Soulié de Morant worked for several years in the French diplomatic corps in China, where he served as French consul. He is mainly known for his role in introducing acupuncture in the West and for his works on Chinese history, literature, and art, as well as translations of Chinese literature.
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