Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio

by Pu Songling

Book Overview

Exquisite and amusing miniatures regarded as the pinnacle of classical Chinese fiction

With their elegant prose, witty wordplay and subtle charm, the 104 stories in this selection from The Strange Tales of Pu Songling (1640-1715) reveal a world in which nothing is as it seems. Here a Taoist monk conjures up a magical pear tree, a scholar recounts his previous incarnations, a woman out-foxes the fox-spirit that possesses her, a...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140447407
• ISBN13: 9780140447408
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.0" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

An amazingly freakish fantasy world. . .

Pu Songling collected various weird and strange tales. In essence, these are Chinese fairy tales. You'll come across weird things like a demon that wears the skin of a beautiful woman in order to lure men to their death. Most of the tales center around fox-spirits or ghosts. Fox-spirits are shapeshifters that can take the form of humans. Most are malicious, using humans to create magical elixers to further their goals of eternal life, but some can be kind and sympathetic to the humans around them. This volume contains a selection of the tales by Pu Songling. After reading this, I'd like to get a chance to read all of the tales. While these are fairy tales, parents should be warned that most of the tales deal with sexual themes, and would not be appropriate for children. Readers of all other ages will be enthralled by these tales. I highly recommend this book.

These are paranormal Chinese tales of old...

As a Chinese, I find these supernatural tales penned by one of ancient China's finest and most imaginative storytellers - Master Pu Songling, proved to be fascinating reading, particularly in a cold and windy night and alone by oneself...! I had read the Chinese version and look forward to reading the English translation to compare how faithful the selection had been rendered into a Western language. Pu Songling was a Chinese scholar and he had passed the country's highest examination - the Jinshi - given an official post. On his retirement from official duties after serving his lifetime, he retired to a thatched hut in the midst of fragrant pines and there spent the rest of his retirement collecting and editing the present volume - Tales of Liaozhai (Chinese title) sometime between 1640-1715, shortly after the Manchu Ch'ing Dynasty (AD1644-1912). Such Liaozhai tales proves to be fascinating among the Chinese people at the teahouses and streetcorners at night...fox-fairies, ghosts and other strange and wandering spirits which vigorously meting out rewards and punishments to either good or erring mortals! Based on popular legends and folklore of the day, these paranormal collection of tales were retold under the able penmanship of the retired Master Pu Songling, especially in an era of strict censorship and which were strictly scrutinized by the alien Manchu rulers and their corrupted officials. Under a lonely bean oil lamp, the dedicated Master Pu Songling labored with love and care to produce for his contemporaries and even his fellow countrymen years to come these strange tales... Finest reading, highly recommended and provide an insight into the Chinese mind and for that, there is no equal to this day. Thanks.

A Quality Presentation

I bought two of these, one for myself and one for my younger brother, because Pu Songling is dope. His stories are brief and phantasmagorial and occasionally step off into the pure absurd. Those who like the dark short stories of Franz Kafka or his modern day equivalents will enjoy these tales, as well as anyone just looking for some great pieces of fiction. The translation and artwork is beautiful and the notes are very extensive. In the preface, the editor describes how the original work contained nearly 500 tales, of which 104 were selected for this collecton. The many pages of notes, glossaries, and words from the editor take up over a hundred pages which one can't help but feel might be better used to include more stories. That being said, I feel assured that all the tales included represent the very best of Songling's considerable writing skills, and recommend the collection very highly.

A great place to get started with Chinese literature

Pu Songling (1640-1715) lived and wrote during a very tumultous time in Chinese history. He witnessed the devestating effects of the Manchu invasion and the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, peasant uprisings, natural disasters, famines, banditry and official corruption. Yet, rather than discussing such events directly in his work, Songling instead created a fictional world which was no less uncertain, chaotic and melancholy than the one he actually lived in. His stories are populated with monsters, fox spirits, ghosts, trolls, talking animals and numerous other strange beings which alternately haunt or help his human protagonists. Yet, whatever bizarre or inexplicable situation Songling's characters encounter, they usually meet with a happy ending: either by vanguishing, or outsmarting, an enemy; or changing their dissolute ways. Unfortunately for Songling and his contemporaries, the real events of late-17th, early-18th century China rarely concluded on such optimistic notes. Readers interested in learning more about this era should also check out Jonathan Spence's "The Death of Woman Wang" (which frequently cites Songling's essays and stories). Focusing on the text itself, the stories complied in this volumne do not, by any stretch of the imagination, fall into the horror or weird tale genres familiar to Western readers (so don't expect scares or chills). They should instead be considered re-imaginings of folk stories which usually carry some sort of moral message or injunction. For modern readers unfamiliar with (or uninterested in) the origins and significance of Chinese myth and lore, these peices can be read and enjoyed purely as fantasy. Yet, while typically strange and fantastic, some of these works are also quite touching (for example, the breezy tone of gentle romanticism used "Twenty Years A Dream" may have influenced the style of Shen Fu's "Six Records of a Floating Life"). If you're interested in Chinese literature and culture - and don't have the time or energy to tackle one of the very lengthy "Four Classics" - this is a great place to start. Many of these stories are extremely short (most are between 2 and 5 pages) and a dozen or so can easily be digested in one sitting. Yet, herein lies the problem: many peices are too short to develope characters, plot or tone and are quite forgetable. I would recommend focusing on the longer tales first and then reading the shorter ones if you're still interested.

Chinese Grotesque & the Arabesque

This is a wonderful new edition of a legendary Chinese collection of strange and eerie stories by one of the masters of Chinese literature. Pu Songling provides exquisite miniatures as well as short stories that capture the ill at ease nuances when the supernatural and natural worlds intrude upon one another. Many of the stories seem dreamlike and full of faery, others disturbing and gory, but all make for an ideal nightstand book for yourself and guests. These are tales rich in the folklore and everyday life of early 18th century China, John Minford provides copious footnotes and appendixes to guide you through an unfamiliar Asian society. This work was a great favorite of the late Victorian/Edwardian era due to the decadent elements in many of the stories I'm sure. This is the ideal book for long wintry nights or warm days at the beach, regardless of the locale, this is a welcomed reprint of a fantasy classic of world literature.