{"product_id":"between-noble-and-humble-9781433104077","title":"Between Noble and Humble","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBetween Noble and Humble: Cao Xueqin and the\u003c\/i\u003e Dream of the Red Chamber (?????, literally New Biography of Cao Xueqin) is a translation of a scholarly work by the famous mainland Chinese critic Zhou Ruchang. Written for the Western reader, it historicizes the life and times of the Chinese novelist Cao Xueqin (c. 1715-1763) and comprehensively introduces the origins of the novel \u003ci\u003eDream of the Red Chamber\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eHonglou meng\u003c\/i\u003e). This translation is unique because it offers the first book-length biography of Cao Xueqin in English. Zhou carefully historicizes the decline of the once illustrious Cao clan, and he demonstrates how Cao Xueqin's own childhood experiences in a wealthy bondservant family during the Qing dynasty profoundly informed the encyclopedic narrative that he would later write. In \u003ci\u003eBetween Noble and Humble\u003c\/i\u003e, Zhou also offers intriguing and controversial theories about \u003ci\u003eHonglou meng\u003c\/i\u003e based on decades of careful research, for instance, that the famous comm","brand":"Peter Lang Publishing Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51039508103511,"sku":"9781433104077","price":67.54,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781433104077.jpg?v=1750943916","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/between-noble-and-humble-9781433104077","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}