How to Read the Chinese Novel / / ed. by David L. Rolston.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Archive (pre 2000) eBook Package
• HerausgeberIn: Rolston, David L.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2014]; ©1990
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Library of Asian Translations ; 97
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (554 p.)

Fiction criticism has a long and influential history in pre-modern China, where critics would read and reread certain novels with a concentration and fervor far exceeding that which most Western critics give to individual works. This volume, a source book for the study of traditional Chinese fiction criticism from the late sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries, presents translations of writings taken from the commentary editions of six of the most important novels of pre-modern China. These translations consist mainly of tu-fa, or "how-to-read" essays, which demonstrate sensitivity and depth of analysis both in the treatment of general problems concerning the reading of any work of fiction and in more focused discussions of particular compositional details in individual novels.The translations were produced by pioneers in the study of this form of fiction criticism in the West: Shuen-fu Lin, Andrew H. Plaks, David T. Roy, John C. Y. Wang, and Anthony C. Yu. Four introductory essays by Andrew H. Plaks and the editor address the historical background for this type of criticism, its early development, its formal features, recurrent terminology, and major interpretive strategies. A goal of this volume is to aid in the rediscovery of this traditional Chinese poetics of fiction and help eliminate some of the distortions encountered in the past by the imposition of Western theories of fiction on Chinese novels.Originally published in 1990.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS -- EDITOR'S PREFACE -- I. Traditional Chinese Fiction Criticism -- II. Chin Sheng-t'an on How to Read the Shuihu chuan (The Water Margin) -- III. Mao Tsung-kang on How to Read the Sankuo yen-i (The Romance of the Three Kingdoms) -- IV. Chang Chu-p'o on How to Read the Chin P'ing Met (The Plum in the Golden Vase) -- V. The Wo-hsien ts'ao-t'ang Commentary on the Ju-Hn wai-shih (The Scholars) -- VI. Liu I-ming on How to Read the Hsi-yu chi (The Journey to the West) -- VII. Chang Hsin-chih on How to Read the Hung-lou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber) -- Appendixes -- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL -- LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX