Grand View of Ming Dynasty Notebooks and Novels (Complete 4 Volumes)

Author: Shanghai Editorial Board
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-04-01
Features: "Notebooks of Fiction" is a general term for works written in classical Chinese, including tales of the supernatural, romances, miscellaneous records, trivial anecdotes, biographies, essays, and the like. Their content is vast and diverse, covering everything from astronomy and geography to court rituals, flora and fauna, folk customs, academic research, ghosts and immortals, romantic tales, humorous stories, and minor anecdotes. From the vastness of the universe to the minuteness of a mustard seed, there is a dazzling array of subjects, truly encompassing all aspects of the world. The style varies, with some being concise and, while others are expressive and captivating, often favored by general readers. It is an extremely rich and valuable treasure trove, offering inexhaustible treasures for later generations. Historians can use it to supplement and verify the gaps in "official histories," literary scholars can examine the literary trends and the evolution of literary works of a particular era, specialists in specific histories can, and creative artists can find inspiration. It can be said that everyone can make full use of it and take what they need.
According to rough estimates, Chinese notebooks of fiction, up to the late Qing Dynasty, numbered no fewer than 3,000. This is a significant cultural legacy, but for general readers, it is impractical to read them all. Therefore, it is necessary to sift through them, discarding the false and retaining the true, and refining the coarse to extract the essence. The original Grand Collection of Notebooks of Fiction published by Shanghai Progressive Bookstore took a step in this direction. This series included 220 works, mostly famous and well-regarded pieces, and was considered a convenient and practical series with a positive social response. However, it had some issues, such as overly content, inconsistent formatting, the inclusion of some spurious works, and instances of repetition.
The most prominent problem was that the books were not well-edited, punctuated, or proofread. Some were poorly divided into sentences, while others lacked division altogether, and both the division and the text contained errors, making them inconvenient for readers. After the liberation, our publishing house and other publishers have also published some notebooks of fiction, and the quality of these publications has improved significantly. However, the publication process was lengthy (spanning over 40 years) and scattered, making it difficult for readers to acquire them in a complete set. Therefore, it is very necessary to compile a new Grand Collection of Notebooks of Fiction Through the Ages using the existing academic achievements.
The newly compiled Grand Collection of Notebooks of Fiction Through the Ages must possess the characteristics of representativeness, practicality, accuracy, aesthetic appeal, and economic convenience. Based on this, the series includes approximately 200 notebooks of fiction, starting from the Han and Wei dynasties (with some works also included that are considered to be from the pre-Qin or Han period) and ending in the late Qing Dynasty. They are published in several batches, titled Grand Collection of Notebooks of Fiction from the Han to the Six Dynasties, Grand Collection of Notebooks of Fiction from the Tang and Five Dynasties, Grand Collection of Notebooks of Fiction from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Grand Collection of Notebooks of Fiction from the Ming Dynasty, and Grand Collection of Notebooks of Fiction from the Qing Dynasty. Each batch is divided into multiple volumes, with each volume containing approximately 600,000 to 800,000 words.
In terms of content, the notebooks of fiction included in this series are primarily focused on narratives and biographical works. However, during the Han and Wei dynasties and the Six Dynasties, few notebooks of fiction survive, so both tales of the supernatural and biographical works are included as much as possible. After the Tang and Song dynasties, romantic tales became more prevalent, and some famous and well-known works are relatively easy to obtain, so fewer are included. Additionally, works like Taiping Guangji that are too voluminous, compilations of excerpts from old texts that overlap with the included notebooks of fiction, and purely academic notebooks are excluded.
The various notebooks of fiction included in the series are arranged in chronological order by the authors' lifetimes. Before each notebook, the editor provides an "Introduction to the Edition," briefly introducing the author's life, the content and significance of the work, and its textual history. Each notebook is based on a relatively complete and high-quality edition, with collation using other editions and reference to relevant historical records, notebooks, collections, and series. Textual choices are made based on the best available evidence, with minimal annotations. If the original edition includes annotations by authors from before the Republic of China, they are retained. Annotations by modern scholars are generally omitted. However, valuable annotations are occasionally corrected in the main text.
The various notebooks of fiction included in the series generally only include the full text of the original edition and do not undertake supplementary or collated work. If supplementary or collated work is based on the achievements of others, it is indicated in the "Introduction to the Edition" to avoid claiming credit unfairly.