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
Results 6-10 of 66
... scholars seat numbers and having them remain otherwise anonymous to examiners and other candidates: if “a certain ... scholar who was failed while witnessing men of lesser talent succeed thanks to bribes offered to corrupt officials ...
... scholar named Guo in “Gongsun Xia” is convinced to bribe his way into a high office in the underworld, but his suitability for a prefect's position is challenged by none other than Guandi, the god of war,2 culminating in a uniquely ...
... scholars in Pu's tales are often “the victims of their cruel, corrupt, and horrifying superiors” (Chang and Chang 119), they are sometimes also singled out for criticism—most specifically when they abuse the talents they possess. A scholar ...
... scholarly abuse of talent to be, for the recklessly mischievous scholar of that story, articulate and skilled in fortune-telling, lies to people about their fate; the penalties he suffers are horrible indeed.4 Pu also employs his ...
... scholarly knowledge embedded in Pu Songling's Strange Talesfrom Liaozhai is reflected in the remarkable female characters ... scholar versed in the wider tradition of Confucianist literature. There were four central texts in the feminist ...