Awakening World of Love and Fate

Author: [Qing] Xizhou Sheng / Xiao Liao / Liu Xia / Xiao Han (ed.)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Hu Shi said: "This is a realistic novel from the 17th century," as it can portray the broad social life, including family life, "and is a rich and detailed cultural historical material." He predicted that scholars studying the social customs, education, and economy of 17th-century China, as well as those studying political corruption, people's suffering, and religious life in 17th-century China, would inevitably have to study this book. The great poet Xu Zhimo artistically elaborated on the author's "realistic masterstroke": "You see, his brush is like a new film—not only vivid but also full of sound and color." "He extracts the very essence of all kinds of people from the lower and middle classes for our appreciation, yet he never shows the slightest sign of dryness or exhaustion; he is always calm, always leisurely." "He has thoroughly understood human affairs. His material is all ordinary, all rotten, but once he works his magic, everything becomes magical." "His scenes are almost as broad as the face of life." A Dream of Red Mansions (Xingshi Yinian Chuan) is a long novel of one hundred chapters written by a man named "Xizhou Sheng" from Shandong during the Shunzhi era of the Qing Dynasty. It is a novel heavily tinged with fatalism. Perhaps the author felt unable to solve or explain the various problems in marriage, so he could only ultimately attribute them to past grievances and karmic retribution. A Dream of Red Mansions is also known as A Wicked Affair, with one hundred chapters, written at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. It is an important novel on marriage and family life, written after The Golden Lotus and before Dream of the Red Chamber. The novel has a complete structure and a plot full of twists and turns. It features a large number of characters with diverse identities, from powerful eunuchs and officials to local scholars and gentry, from common citizens to monks, Taoists, courtesans, and entertainers, all of whom are well represented. Most of the characters are vividly portrayed, lifelike and full of flesh and blood. Additionally, the novel is written in Shandong dialect, with a fluent and distinctive style.