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
Pu Songling. [tudifuren]). This may also explain why Pu prefaces the long harangue at the conclusion of “Huang the Ninth ... Pu's stories with evidence of his contact with their activities. Pu's condemnation at the conclusion of “The ...
Pu Songling. Coupled with the implied assertion that these figures are real personages, the stories often feel ... Pu's sympathies lie with the scholars among his protagonists: those individuals who make significant sacrifices in ...
Pu Songling. many of the individuals visited by fox seductresses are scholars—they're especially susceptible to the ... Pu's advocacy of the scholars goes well beyond simply drawing attention to the challenges they face;5 the tales he ...
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 ... Pu's preface appears in volume one of this xviii Strange Tales from Liaozhai.
Pu Songling. Notes 1 Pu's preface appears in volume one of this translation (1:1-4). All subsequent citations of stories and essays from this volume will appear in parentheses, with the volume number preceding page references. 2 For Pu ...