Strange Tales from Liaozhai - Vol. 2

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Jain Publishing Company, Aug 1, 2008 - Fiction - 444 pages

The 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.

 

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About the author (2008)

Songling Pu (1640--1715) was an author during China's Qing Dynasty. He spent the bulk of his life working as a private tutor, during which time he gathered and re-wrote the stories published to great acclaim in this book.

Herbert A. Giles (1845--1935) was one of the most acclaimed sinologists of his era and the Chair of Chinese at Cambridge. He is one of the creators of the "Wade-Giles" system of romanization, the author of several Chinese-English dictionaries and translator of numerous classics.

Sidney L. Sondergard is Professor of English at St Lawrence University

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