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"The Story of the Stone" (c. 1760), also known as "The Dream of the Red Chamber", is one of the greatest novels of Chinese literature. The fifth part of Cao Xueqin's magnificent saga, "The Dreamer Awakes", was carefully edited and completed by Gao E some decades later. It continues the story of the changing fortunes of the Jia dynasty, focussing on Bao-yu, now married to Bao-chai, after the tragic death of his beloved Dai-yu. Against such worldly elements as death, financial ruin, marriage, decadence and corruption, his karmic journey unfolds. Like a sleepwalker through life, Bao-yu is finally awakened by a vision, which reveals to him that life itself is merely a dream, 'as moonlight mirrored in the water'.
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Language Notes
Text: English, Chinese (translation)--This text refers to the Paperback edition. 媒体推荐
Reviews
Reviewer: Melvin Pena (Evanston, IL United States)
I spend a lot of time wandering through bookstores. One particular book has caught my eye over the years, and the other day I bought it - Volume 1 of Cao Xueqin's eighteenth century epic, "The Story of the Stone: The Golden Days". As a developing eighteenth century scholar, I was doubly attracted to it. "The Golden Days" absolutely blew me away - used as I am to eighteenth century novels (British, French, American), this is wholly unlike anything I've read from the era. It bears structural similarities to the Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy" and "Sentimental Journey," but aside from that bears more in common with ancient Greek novels like Longus's "Daphnis and Chloe" or Heliodorus's "Eithopian Romance," as well as the mysticism of the ancient Egyptian "Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor." And yet, Cao's attention to actual life experiences, and the detail he conveys about tradition and ceremony, along with frank dealings with human relationships and sexuality makes "The Golden Days" much more than any quick summary of style or content can relate.
"The Golden Days" begins in amusing, but sympathetic fashion: the goddess Nü-wa is repairing the sky with 36,501 stones. When she finishes, one remains, which is cast off. Having been touched by a goddess, this stone has magical properties, able to move, change size, and even talk. One day, a Buddhist monk and a Taoist come upon the stone, and promise to let the stone have an adventure - to become human. As the stone waits by a pond, it falls desperately in love with a Crimson Pearl Flower, which is also selected for incarnation by the Fairy Disenchantment. The stone and the flower are incarnated as the novel begins in earnest, as a young minor nobleman named Jia Bao-yu, and a commoner related to the family, a girl named Lin Dai-yu - both unaware of their heavenly origins. "The Golden Days" centers around the daily events and occurrences in the lives of these two teenagers, as they come to grips, as we all must, with human life.
The Rong and Ning branches of the Jia family, on opposite sides of Two Dukes Street, are the centerpieces of the novel's action. Like the "big house" fiction of the English eighteenth century, these ancestral manses provide a locus of activity, as the nobles, their extended families, friends, and servants mingle and interact constantly. Cao marks himself as a remarkable author by the way he handles a massive cast of characters, letting us into the private lives and concerns of all ranks of society, as well as the forms of etiquette that determine their relationships. Another terrific facet of the novel's construction is the almost stream of consciousness style Cao employs - as characters pass in and out of the immediate action of the novel, the narrative seems to choose the person it's most interested in and follow them for pages at a time, before seamlessly passing to the next character. It's really quite amazing, how, in this way, we come to understand the motivations, fears, and hopes of so many individuals. Time, distance, culture, Cao levels distinctions, making historical China accessible to even 21st century readers - he reduces people to their human concerns.
Cao Xueqin's novel is also remarkable for what I can only call it's pro(to)-feminist tone. While we are reminded by certain characters that male lineage is of major importance to the structure of the society, the narrative consistently shows the power, ability, and influence of women. At the novel's beginning, a Taoist named Vanitas finds the stone, and is asked to transcribe its story, but complains initially that it is about a "number of females". The stone obviously insists that the story be written out. Later, Bao-yu, the major male character, says he is more comfortable around women - that they are like water, while men are like mud, castoffs, unclean. One of the main characters of this volume is Wang Xi-feng, a young woman in her early twenties, who for an extended period, manages the affairs of both the Ning and Rong mansions. Cao's respect and admiration for the strong women in Bao-yu's life: Xi-feng, Dai-yu, and two particular servants, Aroma and Caltrop, is quite obvious and important to the novel.
If you are like me, and know tragically little about Chinese literature and culture, Cao takes care of that too - there is a heavy emphasis throughout the novel on the cultural productions of China. The book integrates a wide range of poetry, drama, fiction, folk wisdom, and mythology as a central part of Bao-yu and Dai-yu's upbringing. One can sense Cao's insistence in the novel that education and cultural production is of vital importance, particularly to children. While the Fairy Disenchantment seems to be the guiding spirit of the novel, hinting at the diappointments inevitable in the course of life, this is a novel about youth, and hope for the future, even in the midst of concern about how long prosperity can last. Taken altogether, "The Golden Days" cannot be recommended enough. David Hawkes's translation is first rate, and his introduction, pronunciation notes, and appendices are thorough and very helpful. 作者简介
CAO XUEQIN (1715?-63) was born into a family which for three generations held the office of Commissioner of Imperial Textiles in Nanking, a family so wealthy that they were able to entertain the Emperor Kangxi four times. But calamity overtook them and their property was confiscated. Cao Xuegin was living in poverty near Peking when he wrote his famous novel The Story of the Stone (also known as The Dream of the Red Chamber), of which this is the second volume. The four other volumes, The Golden Days, The Warning Voice, The Debt of Tears and The Dreamer Wakes, are also published in the Penguin Classics.
DAVID HAWKES was Professor of Chinese at Oxford University from Igsq to 1971 and a Research Fellow of All Souls College, from 1973 to 1983. He now lives in retirement in Wales. 目录
Note on Spelling
Preface
Chapter 27
Beauty Perspiring sports with butterflies by the Raindrop Pavilion; And Beauty Suspiring weeps for fallen blossoms by the Flowers' Grave
Chapter 28
A Crimson cummerbund becomes a pledge of friendship; And a chaplet of medicine-beads becomes a source of embarassment
Chapter 29
In which the greatly blessed pray for yet greater blessings; And the highly strung rise to new heights of passion
Chapter 30
Bao-Chai speaks of a fan and castigates her deriders; Charmante scratches a 'qiang' and mystifies a beholder
Chapter 31
A torn fan is the price of silver laughter; And a lost kylin is the clue to a happy marriage
Chapter 32
Bao-yu demonstrates confusion of mind by his declaration to the wrong person; And Golden shows an unconquerable spirit by ending her humiliation in death
Chapter 33
An envious younger brother puts in a malicious word or two; And a scapegrace elder brother recieves a terrible chatisement
Chapter 34
A wordless message meets with silent understanding; And a groundless imputation leads to undeserved rebukes
Chapter 35
Sulky Silver tastes some lotus-leaf soup; And Golden Oriole knots a flower-patterned fringe
Chapter 36
Bao-chai visits Green Delights and bears strange words from a sleeper; And Bao-yu visits Pear-tree Court and learns hard facts from a performer
Chapter 37
A happy inspiration prompts Tan-chun to found the Crab-flower Club; And an ingenious arrangment enables Bao-chai to settle the chysanthemum poem titles
Chapter 38
River Queen triumphs in her treatment of chysanthemum themes; And Lady Allspice is satirical on the subject of crabs
An inventive old countrywoman tells a story of somewhat questionable veracity; And and impressionable young listener insists on getting to the bottom of the matter
Chapter 40
Lady Jia holds two feasts in one day in the Prospect Garden; And Faithful makes four calls on three dominoes in the Painted Chamber
Chapter 41
Jia Bao-yu tastes some superior tea at Green Bower Hermitage; And Grannie Liu samples the sleeping accommodation at Green Delights
Chapter 42
Lady Allspice wins over a suspicious nature with some well-intentioned advice; And River Queen enhances her reputation as a wit with some amusing sarcasms
Chapter 43
An old woman's whim is the occasion of a birthday collection; And a young man's remorse finds solace in a simple ceremony
Chapter 44
Xi-feng's jealousy is the object of an unexpected provocation; And Patience's toilet is a source of unexpected delight
Chapter 45
Sisterly understanding finds expression in words of sisterly frankness; And autumnal pluviousless is celebrated in verses of autumnal melancholy
Chapter 46
An awkward person is given an awkward mission; And a faithful maid vows faithfulness unto death
Chapter 47
In pursuit of love the Oaf King takes a fearful beating; And from fear of reprisal the Reluctant Playboy makes a hasty getaway
Chapter 48
The Love-Deluded One Turns his thoughts to trade and travel; And the Poetry Enthusiast applies herself to making verses
Chapter 49
Red flowers bloom brighter in dazzling snow; And venison reeks strangely on rosebud lips
Chapter 50
Linked verses in Snowy Rushes Retreat; And lantern riddles in the Spring In Winter Room
Chapter 51
A clever cousin composes some ingenious riddles; And an unskilful physician prescribes a barbarous remedy
Chapter 52
Kind Patience conceals the theft of a Shrimp Whisker bracelet; And brave Skybright repairs the hole in a Peacock Gold snow-cape
Chapter 53
Ning-guo House sacrifices to the ancestors on New Year's Eve; And Rong-guo House entertains the whole family on Fifteenth Night
Appendix I: Regulated Verse
Appendix II: Threesomes with the Dominoes
Appendix III: Unsolved Riddles
Characters in Volume 2
Genealogical Tables
| ISBN | 0140443266 |
|---|---|
| 出版社 | Penguin Classics |
| 作者 | Cao Xueqin |
| 尺寸 | 32开 |