Strange Tales from Liaozhai - Vol. 6The 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 sixth of 6 volumes. |
From inside the book
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... ............. 2190 438. A Male Concubine ...................................... 2192 439. Wang Keshou .............................................. 2194 440. The Buffalo Calf .......................................... 2196 441. Wang ...
... Wang Shi,” the author reveals how sanctioned salt merchants swindle people by jacking up prices and then extorting money from them through salt tax “inspectors” who beat and shackle the people—it's legal for smugglers “to sell the local ...
... Wang Da,” Pu declares that injustice is largely due to “officials who overreact in response to wrongs” or who are “basically servants of the powerful families,” as was often the case in earlier historical periods. He's simply working to ...
... Wang Xiang, challenges the perspective that women are less intelligent (and hence less educable) than men by citing dynamic historical examples of female intellectuals “from all walks of life,” demonstrating that they were uniformly ...
... (Wang 329). Supernatural punishment awaits the wife in “Du Xiaolei,” who is so unfilial that she puts dung beetles in the dumplings that she gives her blind mother-inlaw, rather than the meat purchased by her husband for that purpose ...