While the cover art of the Washington Square Press edition of Famous Chinese Short Stories is, well, nice, it’s nothing so dramatic in visual impact as to “make me write home about”. (Or * ahem * specifically blog about.) Rather, I’m presenting this book by virtue of its content, which is excellent, if not fascinating, if not enchanting.
Notably, Lin Yutang is listed as neither the compiler nor the editor of the twenty tales comprising this collection. Rather, he is dubbed is a reteller: The stories herein have not simply been collected-and-there-you-have-them-and-no-more, a la science fiction anthologies by Asimov & Greenberg, Knight, Conklin, Bleiler & Dikty, or, Wollheim. Likewise, they are probably not direct translations from original manuscripts or sources, regardless of wherever and whenever those documents may have originated. Rather, Lin Yutang has modified the stories – to an indeterminate degree – to make them more accessible and appealing to a non-Chinese readership, in terms of plot, characters, and literary style.
In this, he has succeeded. While I have no idea if these stories actually are genuinely significant in terms of Chinese literature and culture, I immensely enjoyed this volume. The tales flow rapidly, and from them one immediately gains a sense of the sheer universality of human experience, in terms of emotion, eroticism, relationships, love, fate and justice, and – yes – the supernatural, regardless of differences in history and language.
Contents
Adventure and Mystery
Curly-Beard, by Tu Kwang-t’ing
The White Monkey, by anonymous
The Stranger’s Note, by “Ch’ingp’ingshan T’ang”
Love
The Jade Goddess, by “Chingpen T’ungshu”
Chastity, a popular anecdote
Passion, by Yuan Chen
Chienniang, by Chen Hsuanyu
Madame D., by Lien Pu
Ghosts
Jealousy, by “Chingpen T’ungshu”
Jojo, by P’u Sung-ling
Juvenile
Cinderella, by Tuan Ch’eng-shih
The Cricket Boy, by P’u Sung-ling
Satire
The Poet’s Club, by Wang Chu
The Bookworm, by P’u Sung-ling
The Wolf of Chungshan (otherwise “The Wolf of Zhongshan“), by Hsieh Liang
Tales of Fancy and Humor
A Lodging for the Night, by Li Fu-yen
The Man Who Became a Fish, by Li Fu-yen
The Tiger, by Li Fu-yen
Matrimony Inn, by Li Fu-yen
The Drunkard’s Dream, by Li Kung-tso
A Reference or Two. Or three. (Perhaps four?) ((Even five?))
Famous Chinese Short Stories (this book itself!), at…
Lin Yutang, at…
… Wayback Machine (List of Lin Yutang’s Works)