Strange Tales from Liaozhai - Vol. 5The weird and whimsical short stories in Strange Tales from Liaozhai show their author, Pu Songling (1640-1715), to be both an explorer of the macabre, like Edgar Allan Poe, and a moralist, like Aesop. In this first complete translation of the collection's 494 stories into English, readers will encounter supernatural creatures, natural disasters, magical aspects of Buddhist and Daoist spirituality, and a wide range of Chinese folklore. Annotations are provided to clarify unfamiliar references or cultural allusions, and introductory essays have been included to explain facets of Pu Songling's work and to provide context for some of the unique qualities of his uncanny tales. This is the fifth of 6 volumes. |
From inside the book
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... prefecture. The collector of these strange tales remarks, “The White Lotus Society was wiped out, with Yang alone surviving, and then he collected a large fortune, leaving us wondering how the gods could let this happen without doing ...
... the imperial civil service examination. Jining: City in southwestern Shandong province. Dengzhou: A prefecture located in modern Shandong province's Penglai county. Originally, Gao Donghai had been a habitual rogue; yet he 1628.
... Xiaolian: An unofficial reference to successful candidates at the prefectural or provincial level of the civil service examination recruitment process (Hucker 237). One day, Zhou sent an old maidservant to take food 1634.
... prefectural office, Xijiu narrated a comprehensive history of his family. The prefect was astounded, and exclaimed, “He comes from a family of literary scholars, he's polite, gentle, and refined, so he can't possibly be a robber!” He ...
... prefectural office, and then go assess his students' progress. The prefect then made a point of praising Xijiu's filial piety to every high official he ran into, describing how he'd mourned his parents even beyond three years, so the ...