Awakening Worldly Love (Complete Two Volumes)

Author: (Ming) Xizhou Sheng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: A Dream of Red Mansions is a long novel of one hundred chapters written by a man named "Xizhou Sheng" from Shandong during the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. It is a novel heavily colored with fatalism. Perhaps the author felt unable to solve or explain various problems in marriage, so finally could only attribute them to past grievances and karmic retribution. Hu Shi said: "This is a realistic novel of the 17th century," which can depict the broad social life, including family life, "and is a rich and detailed cultural historical material." He predicted that scholars studying the social customs, education, and economic history of 17th-century China, as well as those studying political corruption, people's suffering, and religious life in 17th-century China, would definitely have to study this book. The great poet Xu Zhimo made an artistic interpretation of the author's "realistic masterstroke" of the novel: "You see, his brush is like a new film—not only lively but also full of vivid color and sound." "He has extracted the essence of all kinds of people from the lower and middle classes for our appreciation, yet he never shows the slightest sign of exhaustion or desperation; he is always calm and leisurely." "He has a deep understanding of human affairs. His material is ordinary and even foul, but once he works his magic on it, it all becomes magical." "His paintings are almost as broad as the face of life."