Strange Tales from Liaozhai - Vol. 2The 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 second of 6 volumes. |
From inside the book
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... earth god3 prompts Pu to castigate her for the residual damage she causes to the reputation of the village (in “The Earth God's Wife” [tudifuren]). This may also explain why Pu prefaces the long xiv Strange Tales from Liaozhai.
... wife, Pianpian, and to display the material attachments that signal his unworthiness to become, like her, an immortal. Ma Ji proves himself to be a natural performer as a young man, a propensity that comes in handy later when his ...
Pu Songling. who cares for Xia's wife and child following his death. Scholar Mao (in “The Sisters Switch Marriages” [zi meiyi jia]), like a number of his peers in the Strange Tales from Liaozhai, is born poor, but is skilled and ...
... wife are dissuaded from carrying out their duty by bribes, which include a celebratory feast and the burning of paper money (in “The Ghosts Throw a Banquet” [gui zuo yan]), both suggestions coming from the spirits of Du's dead mother ...
... wife, rushes into the temple of the city god, claims to be acting under the direction of the deity, and begins cutting off parts of his body as punishment for his act; by the time paperwork arrives for him to be tried and sentenced in a ...