Three Sui Pacifies Demons (Popular Library of Chinese Classical Novel Masterpieces)

Author: Luo Guanzhong (Ming) & Feng Menglong (Ming), edited by Liu Zizhai, annotated by Liu Zizhai
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The Legend of the Three Sages Subduing the Demons is a long fantasy novel in Chinese literary history, marking the dawn of the influential genre of fantasy novels. The central event of the story is the Wang Ze uprising in the Song Dynasty. Luo Guanzhong compiled the novel based on folk legends and storytelling from the streets, drawing from historical facts. During the Wanli era, the renowned popular writer Feng Menglong acquired Luo Guanzhong's twenty-chapter version from Chang'an City, personally revised and supplemented it, extensively incorporating folk tales of demons and supernatural events to enrich the novel, creating The New Legend of the Three Sages Subduing the Demons. The Legend of the Three Sages Subduing the Demons focuses more on human-world supernatural events and less on celestial deities or ghosts. What we see in the book is not the heavens or the underworld, but a vivid society, allowing us to learn much about the customs and human nature of the Yuan and Ming dynasties. The characters in the novel are not cold and uninteresting gods, ghosts, or monsters, but well-rounded, humanized individuals with rich emotions. Their joys, sorrows, and passions are no different from ordinary people, though they only use magic when necessary. The novel inherits the narrative techniques of storytellers from the Song and Yuan dynasties, with a lively and unrestrained writing style, full of urban vitality, and highly expressive.