Awakening World Romance (Volumes 1, 2, and 3)

Author: (Ming) Xizhou Sheng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-09-01
Features: A Dream of Red Mansions (also known as A Wicked Match), consisting of 100 chapters, was written during the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. It is an important novel on marriage and family life, written between The Golden Lotus and Dream of the Red Chamber. The novel has a complete structure and intricate plots. It features a large cast of characters with diverse backgrounds, ranging from powerful eunuchs and officials to local scholars and gentry, from commoners to monks, Taoists, and courtesans. Most of the characters are vividly portrayed with rich detail. Additionally, the novel is written in Shandong dialect, with expressive and distinctive language.
A Dream of Red Mansions is a long novel of 100 chapters attributed to a man who called himself "Xizhou Sheng" from Shandong, written during the Shunzhi era of the Qing Dynasty. It is a novel heavily imbued with fatalism. Perhaps the author felt unable to resolve or explain the various problems in marriage, ultimately attributing them to past grievances and karmic retribution. Hu Shi described it as "a realistic novel of the 17th century," noting that it vividly portrays the broad social life, including family life, and is "both rich and detailed as cultural historical material." He predicted that scholars studying 17th-century Chinese social customs, education, and economic history, as well as those researching 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" in the novel: "You see, his brush is like a new film—not only dynamic but also full of vivid color and sound." "He extracts the very essence of the lower and middle classes for our appreciation, yet he never shows a trace of dryness or exhaustion; he remains always composed, always leisurely." "He has seen through human affairs thoroughly. His material is ordinary, even foul, but once transformed by his pen, it becomes magical." "His canvas is almost as broad as the face of life."