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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... turned to other pursuits following repeated failures to pass the imperial civil service examination, but while Pu turned to tutoring and to the solace of the strange tales he compiled over a period of forty years, Zhang chose to pursue ...
... turning it instantly into silver. Due to “the importance of the master-disciple relationship and the need to pursue a path of intensive self-cultivation through interior alchemy in order to gain enlightenment” (Katz 77), Zhen forcesJia ...
... turned to leave, Gu insisted, “Go on, go on, then after you've tested my predictions you can thank me.” That night, as Xing was sitting alone in the moonlight, two girls suddenly appeared from nowhere, and as he stared at them, he could ...
... turned out that this was being done for the sake of Xing. Otherwise, how could Xing construct a grand house and accumulate an enormous fortune? He was not a lustful man, yet the Primary wife: On the household protocols associated with ...
... turned toward a pot in which he twisted some dough with his fingers and pinched off pieces of it, dropping them on the table; as he let them fall, they changed into mice that ran around until the table was full of them. Lu snatched up ...