tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post4623401785526352944..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: A Ming Dynasty magic fox cautionary tale - don't steal books from foxesAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-13053108188314966622013-10-31T22:11:54.500-05:002013-10-31T22:11:54.500-05:00"Precious," that is a good word here. I..."Precious," that is a good word here. I can see that being a problem with this kind of story. It is, after all, a fairy tale, and the devices to remind us of the oral roots of the fairy tale also can make it seem that the story is being told to children. The poems work - well, I do not know how they work. Something to attend to.<br /><br />I am not prepared to defend the opinion, but I thought the new Neko Case album was her strongest yet. Its title is unwieldy but not obscure: <i>The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You</i>.<br /><br />Jenny, I do remember you commenting before. Welcome, and thanks.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-61348687238549770882013-10-31T19:39:08.490-05:002013-10-31T19:39:08.490-05:00I tremendously love stories where the author is co...I tremendously love stories where the author is commenting on them as they are happening. There is a danger that it will become precious, but in general I'm all for it.<br /><br />(Neko Case! Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is indeed a wonderful album title, and she is a wonderful singer.)Jenny @ Reading the Endhttp://readingtheend.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-13652528431217083112013-10-31T16:06:21.501-05:002013-10-31T16:06:21.501-05:00Like many people, I know of Pu Song Ling via Jonat...Like many people, I know of Pu Song Ling via Jonathan Spence's <i>The Death of Woman Wang</i>. He is on my list, too, my "Chinese, someday" list.<br /><br />Neko Case has a strong taste for cryptic lyrics, which sometimes slips into her album titles.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-12128460310515513632013-10-31T15:17:24.410-05:002013-10-31T15:17:24.410-05:00If you like the Feng Menglong stories I recommende...If you like the Feng Menglong stories I recommended (taken from the second volume, the best one of the three, imho), you might also like some of the Strange Tales from a Chinese studio. <br /><br />The complete Chinese Studio by Pu Song Ling is about 2000 pages long, though.<br /><br />Among the complete editions I can recommend the Italian version I racconti fantastici di Liao, Giovanni Di Giura, Mondadori, 2 vols, and the complete French (good luck finding a copy, though) Chroniques de l'etrange, Andre Levy, Philippe Picquier, 2 vols, 2005, 2016 p. Both include about 500 tales from the Liaozhai. Even the shorter version of Andre Levy's translation is quite good at 500 pages. <br /><br />For English versions, the best one I've read is Strange Tales of Liaozhai (Revised Enlarged Edition- Classical Chinese Novel Series ), which includes the ironic send-up commentaries by The Chronicler of Wonders (Pu Song Ling himself) and is also about 500 pages long. The most complete version available in English is Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio, 3 vols. (Beijing: People’s China Publishing House, 1997), which includes 194 tales and is about 1000 pages long, but I've read that it's a careless translation.<br /><br />Speaking of great titles: Fox confessor brings the flood. How's that for a country music album title? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neko_Case_-_Fox_Confessor_Brings_The_Flood.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-8055009869691500832013-10-31T11:17:10.103-05:002013-10-31T11:17:10.103-05:00No story can live up to "The Golden Eel Bring...No story can live up to "The Golden Eel Brings Calamity to Officer Ji." Might as well stop at the title. It is so good.<br /><br />For a Chinese reader, the experience must be a bit like reading the Grimm brothers.<br /><br />Thanks so much for the expanded recommendations. Cost is no object (as long as the university library has the books), but the prospect of plowing through nearly 3,000 pages of this stuff is - well, intriguing, actually, but a project for some time in the future.<br /><br />Nana - 1627, I know, it is all so surprising. Nothing in Chinese literature lines up with Western literary history. A separate, exciting field. <br /><br />The note about reincarnation is interesting. I assume it is really an ironic comment on the hero. If the foxes have been wicked enough to stunt their cosmic progress, what will happen to Wang Chen? He'll be lucky if he comes back as a fox. Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-912871065599156342013-10-31T10:57:55.291-05:002013-10-31T10:57:55.291-05:00I'm glad to see Feng Menglong referenced on a ...I'm glad to see Feng Menglong referenced on a Halloween post, thank you for that. Good point about the over promising title. Anyway, since buying three expensive books is too much to expect, I'll limit my recommendations to just my favorites from Menglong's Histories to Caution the World:<br /><br />The White Maiden Locked for Eternity Under the Thunder Peak Tower. <br />With it's ironic moral: 'Judging from the case of Empress Wu, how can we be so sure that a snake cannot become a woman?'<br /><br />Judge Bao Solves a Case through a Ghost that Appeared Thrice<br />The Golden Eel Brings Calamity to Officer Ji<br />Wang Jiaoluan's One Hundred Years of Sorrow<br />Du Shiniang Sinks her Golden Box in Anger.<br />The King of the Honey Locust Grove Assumes Human Shape.<br /><br />And the first and last anecdotes from Three Times Wang An Shi tries to Baffle Su Dungpo, which are hilarious (the Delicious One, yeah right!).<br /><br />That handful of stories has inspired so many movies, cartoons, TV shows, comic books, playlets, etc. Reading the original sources is always an enriching experience.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-70635419764898372662013-10-31T09:07:56.019-05:002013-10-31T09:07:56.019-05:00The title is intriguing... and it was published in...The title is intriguing... and it was published in 1627? I am jealous. I see the Buddhist concept of reincarnation. Thanks for sharingImageNationshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06021414643103601330noreply@blogger.com