Description
Book SynopsisIn the Ming and Qing periods, the Chinese read fiction in editions with commentary printed on the same page. This book investigates the influence of traditional Chinese commentary on fiction and on the way Chinese fiction was written.
Table of ContentsPreface Abbreviations Introduction: traditional Chinese fiction commentary in context Part I. A Brief History of Chinese Fiction Commentary: 1. Mr. Pingdian: Jin Shengtan and the Shuihu zhuan 2. Dealing with Jin Shengtan and the rest of the 'Four Masterworks' 3. Decline and revival Part II. Making Room for Fiction: 4. Creating implied authors and readers 5. Liberating fiction from history 6. Liberating fiction from 'reality' Part III. From What to Who: The Turn Away from Plot: 7. From plot-centered to character-centered narratives 8. Relational characterization and ambiguos characters Part IV. How to Write the Chinese Novel: 9. Fiction criticism and how the story is told 10. Articulating the parts Part V. Four Solutions to the Challenge of Commentary: 11. Auto-commentary: the Xiyou bu and the Shuihu houzhuan 12. Commentator-narrators: Li Yu, Ding Yaokang, and Wen Kang 13. Latent commentary: the Rulin waishi 14. Everything all at once: the Honglou meng Works cited Glossary-Index.
