Hole Yi Ji's External Turn: A Novel Collection with Comments

Author: Jin Kemu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: It is generally believed that novels tell lies and are fictional, while history tells the truth and is realistic. In reality, novels contain truth within fiction, and history contains fiction within truth. Novels often use lies to tell the truth. So-called documentary histories, on the other hand, may use fiction to conceal the actual reality. The transformations of Sun Wukong are fictional, but his heroic character is true. Don Quixote and Ah Q are fictional, but such people are real. What is true? What is false? To speak the truth is not easy. The flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water are false, yet they are also the shadows of real flowers and moons. The stories in this collection can be viewed in this light—no need to chase after distinguishing truth from falsehood.