Stories Old and New is the first complete translation of Feng
Menglong's Gujin xiaoshuo (also known as Yushi mingyan, or
Illustrious Words to Instruct the World), a collection of forty
short stories first published in 1620 in China. This is considered
the best of Feng's three such collections and was a pivotal work in
the development of vernacular fiction. The stories are valuable as
examples of early fiction and for their detailed depiction of daily
life among a broad range of social classes.
The stories are populated by scholars and courtesans, spirits
and ghosts, Buddhist monks and nuns, pirates and emperors, and
officials both virtuous and corrupt. Characters find themselves
involved in political intrigue, tests of friendship, inheritance
disputes, extramarital affairs, and visits to the underworld.
Social mores are examined through playful manipulations of plot and
subplot. Virtue is eventually rewarded (though perhaps not in this
life), and the world -- seen and unseen -- is depicted as a
complicated but ultimately logical and understandable place. The
streets and abodes of late-Ming China, and the characters who
populate them, come alive in Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang's smooth
and colorful translation of these entertaining tales.
Stories Old and New has been published in China in numerous
editions. Although English translations of some of the stories have
appeared in journals and anthologies, until now, nowhere have the
stories been presented sequentially in thematic pairs as arranged
by Feng Menglong. This unabridged translation is illustrated with a
selection of woodcuts from the original Ming edition and includes
Feng's interlinear notes and marginal comments, as well asall of
the verse woven throughout the text.
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