Personal Library -- Waking World Parables

Author: (Ming) Feng Menglong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: ▼ Complete Content ▼ Sandalwood Aroma ▼ Compact and Lightweight ▼ Original Illustrations ▼ Easy to Carry
Awakening World Stories is a collection of storytelling novels compiled by Feng Menglong (1574–1646) in the late Ming Dynasty. Feng Menglong was a native of Changzhou, styled Youlong, and also known by the pen names Long Ziyou, Muhanzhai Master, and Guqu Sanren. Throughout his life, he adapted and compiled numerous novels. Awakening World Stories, along with the other two storytelling collections he edited, Clarifying World Stories and Warning World Stories, are collectively known as the "Three Words." This work was published slightly later than the other two and contains fewer Song and Yuan Dynasty storytelling tales compared to the first two books, accounting for about one-sixth of the entire collection. The Song and Yuan Dynasty original works include The Letter from the Water Bay Fox to Tianhu, The Demise of a Man in Jinhai Ling Due to Excessive Desire, Zheng Jieshi’s Achievement with the Divine Bow, and The Misfortune Brought by a Joke in Fifteen Guan. When compiling these old works, Feng Menglong made revisions, polished the tales written by Ming Dynasty authors, and even wrote some himself. Many stories in this book draw from historical events, but the historical figures and events have been literaryized and typified, not strictly adhering to historical facts. When dealing with such themes, Feng Menglong paid attention to the relationship between historical truth and artistic truth.
The book includes forty stories with diverse styles. Some are derived from historical records, while others come from historical notes and novels throughout the dynasties. However, the majority of the stories originate directly from folk legends and the realities of social life. Through these plots and characters, they reflect the social life and people’s aspirations of the time from different perspectives and to varying degrees.
This book is part of the Three Words, titled Awakening World Stories, consisting of forty volumes. The earliest edition of this book is the Ming Dynasty Tianqi Dingmao Jinjiang Ye Jingchi publication, now preserved in the Imperial Household Library in Japan. Additionally, there is the Ming Dynasty Jinjiang Ye Jingxi publication.