Description
Book SynopsisProvides an annotated translation of the famous Chin P'ing Mei, an anonymous sixteenth-century Chinese novel that focuses on the domestic life of His-men Ch'ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant in a provincial town, who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines.
Trade Review"[A] book of manners for the debauched. Its readers in the late Ming period likely hid it under their bedcovers."--Amy Tan, New York Times Book Review Praise for Volume 1: "[I]t is time to remind ourselves that The Plum in the Golden Vase is not just about sex, whether the numerous descriptions of sexual acts throughout the novel be viewed as titillating, harshly realistic, or, in Mr. Roy's words, intended 'to express in the most powerful metaphor available to him the author's contempt for the sort of persons who indulge in them.' The novel is a sprawling panorama of life and times in urban China, allegedly set safely in the Sung dynasty, but transparently contemporary to the author's late sixteenth-century world, as scores of internal references demonstrate. The eight hundred or so men, women, and children who appear in the book cover a breath-taking variety of human types, and encompass pretty much every imaginable mood and genre--from sadism to tenderness, from light humor to philosophical musings, from acute social commentary to outrageous satire."--Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books Praise for Volume 1: "Racy, colloquial, and robustly scatalogical, [this translation] could only have been done now, when our literary language has finally shed its Victorian values. David Tod Roy enters with zest into the spirit and the letter of the original, quite surpassing ... earlier versions."--Paul St. John Mackintosh, Literary Review Praise for Volume 1: "Reading Roy's translation is a remarkable experience."--Robert Chatain, Chicago Tribune Review of Books
Table of ContentsLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii CAST OF CHARACTERS xv CHAPTER 21 Wu Yueh-niang Sweeps Snow in Order to Brew Tea; Ying Po-chueh Runs Errands on Behalf of Flowers 3 CHAPTER 22 Hsi-men Ch'ing Secretly Seduces Lai-wang's Wife; Ch'un-mei Self-righteously Denounces Li Ming 30 CHAPTER 23 Yu-hsiao Acts as Lookout by Yueh-niang's Chamber; Chin-lien Eavesdrops outside Hidden Spring Grotto 43 CHAPTER 24 Ching-chi Flirts with a Beauty on the Lantern Festival; Hui-hsiang Angrily Hurls Abuse at Lai-wang's Wife 62 CHAPTER 25 Hsueh-o Secretly Divulges the Love Affair; Lai-wang Drunkenly Vilifies Hsi-men Ch'ing 80 CHAPTER 26 Lai-wang Is Sent under Penal Escort to Hsu-chou; Sung Hui-lien Is Shamed into Committing Suicide 100 CHAPTER 27 Li P'ing-erh Communicates a Secret in the Kingfisher Pavilion; P'an Chin-lien Engages in a Drunken Orgy under the Grape Arbor 127 CHAPTER 28 Ch'en Ching-chi Teases Chin-lien a out a Shoe; Hsi-men Ch'ing Angrily Beats Little Iron Rod 150 CHAPTER 29 Immortal Wu Physiognomizes the Exalted and the Humble; P'an Chin-lien Enjoys a Midday Battle in the Bathtub 166 CHAPTER 30 Lai-pao Escorts the Shipment of Birthday Gifts; Hsi-men Ch'ing Begets a Son and Gains an Office 194 CHAPTER 31 Ch'in-t'ung Conceals a Flagon after Spying on Yu-hsiao; Hsi-men Ch'ing Holds a Feast and Drinks Celebratory Wine 214 CHAPTER 32 Li Kuei-chieh Adopts a Mother and Is Accepted as a Daughter; Ying Po-chueh Cracks Jokes and Dances Attendance on Success 242 CHAPTER 33 Ch'en Ching-chi Loses His Keys and Is Distrained to Sing; Han Tao-kuo Liberates His Wife to Compete for Admiration 261 CHAPTER 34 Shu-t'ung Relies upon His Favor to Broker Affairs; P'ing-an Harbors Resentment and Wags His Tongue 282 CHAPTER 35 Harboring Resentment Hsi-men Ch'ing Punishes P'ing-an; Playing a Female Role Shu-t'ung Entertains Hangers-on 309 CHAPTER 36 Chai Ch'ien Sends a Letter Asking for a Young Girl; Hsi-men Ch'ing Patronizes Principal Graduate Ts'ai 345 CHAPTER 37 Old Mother Feng Urges the Marriage of Han Ai-chieh; Hsi-men Ch'ing Espouses Wang Liu-erh as a Mistress 360 CHAPTER 38 Hsi-men Ch'ing Su jects Trickster Han to the Third Degree; P'an Chin-lien on a Snowy Evening Toys with Her P'i-p'a 382 CHAPTER 39 Hsi-men Ch'ing Holds Chiao Rites at the Temple of the Jade Emperor; Wu Yueh-niang Listens to Buddhist Nuns Reciting Their Sacred Texts 404 CHAPTER 40 Holding Her Boy in Her Arms Li P'ing-erh Curries Favor; Dressing Up as a Maidservant Chin-lien Courts Affection 438 APPENDIX Translations of Supplementary Material 453 NOTES 473 BIBLIOGRAPHY 577 INDEX 605
