Cover image for Idle talk under the bean arbor : a seventeenth-century Chinese story collection
Idle talk under the bean arbor : a seventeenth-century Chinese story collection
Title:
Idle talk under the bean arbor : a seventeenth-century Chinese story collection

Dou peng xian hua. English

Seventeenth-century Chinese story collection

17th-century Chinese story collection.

豆棚閒話
Author:
Ainajushi, author.
ISBN:
9780295999975
Personal Author:
Uniform Title:
Dou peng xian hua. English
Publication Information:
Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2017]
Physical Description:
xxviii, 288 pages ; 24 cm
General Note:
Translated from the Chinese.
Contents:
Introduction: gossip and exaggeration in Aina's short stories / Chronology of China's historical periods (dynasties and states) -- Jie Zhitui sets fire to his jealous wife / Fan Li drowns Xishi in West Lake / A court-appointed gentleman squanders his wealth but takes power / The commissioner's son wastes his patrimony to revive the family / The little beggar who was truly filial / The exalted monks who faked transcendence / On Shouyang Mountain, Shuqi becomes a turncoat / With a transparent stone, Master Wei opens blind eyes / Liu the Brave tests a horse on the Yuyang Road / Freeloader Jia forms a league on Tiger Hill / In death, Commander Dang beheads his enemy / In detail, Rector Chen discourses on the cosmos
Abstract:
"Written around 1660, the unique Chinese short story collection Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor (Doupeng xianhua), by the author known only as Aina the Layman, uses the seemingly innocuous setting of neighbors swapping yarns on hot summer days under a shady arbor to create a series of stories that embody deep disillusionment with traditional values. The tales, ostensibly told by different narrators, parody heroic legends and explore issues that contributed to the fall of the Ming dynasty a couple of decades before this collection was written, including self-centeredness and social violence. These stories speak to all troubled times, demanding that readers confront the pretense that may lurk behind moralistic stances. Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor presents all twelve stories in English translation along with notes from the original commentator, as well as a helpful introduction and analysis of individual stories."--Publisher description.
Bibliographical References:
Includes bibliographical references.
Field 805:
npmlib 10605233 PL2698 A4 D68 ysh
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