Re–Reading the Stone – Desire & the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber: Desire and the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber - Hardcover

Yu, Anthony C

4.3

10 ratings by Goodreads

9780691015613: Re–Reading the Stone – Desire & the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber: Desire and the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691015619 ISBN 13: 9780691015613

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1997

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

The eighteenth-century Hongloumeng, known in English as Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone, is generally considered to be the greatest of Chinese novels--one that masterfully blends realism and romance, psychological motivation and fate, daily life and mythical occurrences, as it narrates the decline of a powerful Chinese family. In this path-breaking study, Anthony Yu goes beyond the customary view of Hongloumeng as a vivid reflection of late imperial Chinese culture by examining the novel as a story about fictive representation. Through a maze of literary devices, the novel challenges the authority of history as well as referential biases in reading. At the heart of Hongloumeng, Yu argues, is the narration of desire. Desire appears in this tale as the defining trait and problem of human beings and at the same time shapes the novel's literary invention and effect. According to Yu, this focalizing treatment of desire may well be Hongloumeng's most distinctive accomplishment.

Through close readings of selected episodes, Yu analyzes principal motifs of the narrative, such as dream, mirror, literature, religious enlightenment, and rhetorical reflexivity in relation to fictive representation. He contextualizes his discussions with a comprehensive genealogy of qing--desire, disposition, sentiment, feeling--a concept of fundamental importance in historical Chinese culture, and shows how the text ingeniously exploits its multiple meanings. Spanning a wide range of comparative literary sources, Yu creates a new conceptual framework in which to reevaluate this masterpiece.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"Yu's book is one of the most important studies on Hongloumeng to appear in recent decades. It is full of insights and refreshing readings. It is a work of erudition and intellectual discernment, and it will undoubtedly become a classic in Honglou meng study. One of its many important contributions is its success in drawing our attention to the centrality of desire in premodern Chinese culture and its intimate relationship with Chinese literature."--Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Synopsis:

The 18th-century "Hongloumeng", known in English as "Dream of the Red Chamber" or "The Story of the Stone" is considered to be one of the greatest of Chinese novels, blending realism and romance, psychological motivation and fate, daily life and mythical occurences, as it narrates the decline of a powerful Chinese family. This study examines the novel as a story about fictive representation. Through literary devices, the novel challenges the authority of history as well as referential biases in reading. This text argues that at the heart of the novel is the narration of desire. Desire appears in this tale as the defining trait and problem of human beings and, at the same time, shapes the novel's literary invention and effect. Through close readings of selected episodes, the text analyzes principal motifs of the narrative, such as dream, mirror, literature, religious enlightenment, and rhetorical reflexivity in relation to fictive representation. It contextualizes its discussion with a comprehensive genealogy of "quing" - desire, disposition, sentiment, feeling - a concept of fundamental importance in historical Chinese culture, and shows how the text exploits its multiple meanings.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.