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Famous Chinese Short Stories
Los cuentos cortos de este volumen son algunos de los más famosos relatos chinos jamás narrados. Comprenden varios de los mejores, aunque no todos los mejores figuran aquí. La selección y renarración de estos cuentos para lectores occidentales imponen una necesaria limitación. Muchos famosos cuentos han sido omitidos, ya sea debido al tema, el material o las suposiciones básicas de una sociedad o un período distintos, que hacen que la renarración sea una empresa imposible o improductiva. He seleccionado los que considero que tienen un atractivo casi universal y responden más al propósito de un cuento corto moderno.CONTENIDOAVENTURAS Y MISTERIO1. Barba Rizada2. El Mono Blanco3. La esquela del desconocidoAMOR4. La diosa de jade5. Castidad6. Pasión7. Chienniang8. La Señora DFANTASMAS9. Celos10. JojóJUVENILES11. Cenicienta12. El niño grilloSÁTIRA13. El Club de los Poetas14. El ratón de biblioteca15. El lobo de ChungshanCUENTOS DE FANTASÍA Y HUMORISMO16. Un albergue nocturno17. El hombre que se volvió pez18. El tigre19. La Posada del Matrimonio20. El sueño del borracho
316 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
17 people are currently reading
295 people want to read
About the author
Lin Yutang
267 books343 followersProlific writer of a wide variety of works in Chinese 林语堂 and English; in the 1930s he founded several Chinese magazines specializing in social satire and Western-style journalism.
Lin, the son of a Chinese Presbyterian minister, was educated for the ministry but renounced Christianity in his early 20s and became a professor of English. He traveled to the United States and Europe for advanced study; on his return to China, he taught, edited several English-language journals, and contributed essays to Chinese literary magazines.
In 1932 Lin established the Lunyu banyuekan (“Analects Fortnightly”), a type of Western-style satirical magazine totally new to China at that time. It was highly successful, and he soon introduced two more publications. In 1935 Lin published the first of his many English-language books, My Country and My People. It was widely translated and for years was regarded as a standard text on China. The following year he moved to New York City to meet the popular demand for his historical accounts and novels. In 1939 he published his renowned English novel Moment in Peking. The Wisdom of China and India appeared in 1942.
Although he returned to China briefly in 1943 and again in 1954, Lin both times became involved in disputes stemming from his stand in favour of literature as self-expression rather than as propaganda and social education. In addition to writing books on Chinese history and philosophy, he made highly acclaimed English translations of Chinese literary masterpieces, such as Famous Chinese Short Stories Retold (1952).
Lin, the son of a Chinese Presbyterian minister, was educated for the ministry but renounced Christianity in his early 20s and became a professor of English. He traveled to the United States and Europe for advanced study; on his return to China, he taught, edited several English-language journals, and contributed essays to Chinese literary magazines.
In 1932 Lin established the Lunyu banyuekan (“Analects Fortnightly”), a type of Western-style satirical magazine totally new to China at that time. It was highly successful, and he soon introduced two more publications. In 1935 Lin published the first of his many English-language books, My Country and My People. It was widely translated and for years was regarded as a standard text on China. The following year he moved to New York City to meet the popular demand for his historical accounts and novels. In 1939 he published his renowned English novel Moment in Peking. The Wisdom of China and India appeared in 1942.
Although he returned to China briefly in 1943 and again in 1954, Lin both times became involved in disputes stemming from his stand in favour of literature as self-expression rather than as propaganda and social education. In addition to writing books on Chinese history and philosophy, he made highly acclaimed English translations of Chinese literary masterpieces, such as Famous Chinese Short Stories Retold (1952).
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 30, 2012
This book is a collection of tales which have been "translated" from ancient classical Chinese. My version of the book actually says "retold by" rather than "translated by" Lin Yutang as he freely admits in his interesting introduction and footnotes that he has taken "translator's license" with many of the tales in order to render them both more readable, poetic and understandable for a modern English-reading audience.
Indeed the tales are very well written and full of action, mystery, intrigue and eccentric and fantastic characters. This book offers a fascinating glimpse into both how much and how little human civilisation has changed over the past few thousand years. It's amazing to think that some of these stories - which include the first known written version of the Cinderella tale in the world, which has a Chinese origin in a tale from the 9th century - were written down literally thousands of years ago, when the English language for example came into existence just over one thousand years ago.
It's proundly touching to consider that our ancestors thousands of years ago held the same hopes and aspirations as we do today - to find love, for happy marriages, to lead full family lives and succeed in satisfying careers, which they hoped to achieve by a mixture of hard work and good fortune.
The tales also offer a tantalising glimpse into ancient Chinese everyday life, customs and beliefs. Many stories mention various Chinese aboriginal tribes and their customs which are an aspect of Chinese history that I had never really considered before. There are also tales with aspects of the supernatural, hinting at the origins of various superstitions, myths and even phrases that still exist in Chinese culture today. I highly recommend this book to anybody with an anthropological or cultural interest in either Chinese or ancient cultures.
Indeed the tales are very well written and full of action, mystery, intrigue and eccentric and fantastic characters. This book offers a fascinating glimpse into both how much and how little human civilisation has changed over the past few thousand years. It's amazing to think that some of these stories - which include the first known written version of the Cinderella tale in the world, which has a Chinese origin in a tale from the 9th century - were written down literally thousands of years ago, when the English language for example came into existence just over one thousand years ago.
It's proundly touching to consider that our ancestors thousands of years ago held the same hopes and aspirations as we do today - to find love, for happy marriages, to lead full family lives and succeed in satisfying careers, which they hoped to achieve by a mixture of hard work and good fortune.
The tales also offer a tantalising glimpse into ancient Chinese everyday life, customs and beliefs. Many stories mention various Chinese aboriginal tribes and their customs which are an aspect of Chinese history that I had never really considered before. There are also tales with aspects of the supernatural, hinting at the origins of various superstitions, myths and even phrases that still exist in Chinese culture today. I highly recommend this book to anybody with an anthropological or cultural interest in either Chinese or ancient cultures.
Read
April 11, 2017Chastity .. 5 stars
August 23, 2012
I spent nearly a month reading this book, which is one of my birthday present. The first time I saw this book, it was wrapped with a plastic transparent paper, and I still feel strongly till now the power Lin Yutang has brought to me. Since it is the first time I get acquaintance with the work of him, I engaged all my effort to peruse his work rather than just skim it with a rapid speed.
At first, I though it might be pretty easy for me to read an English novel written by a Chinese as a second language learner, however as time went by, I realized I was totally wrong. This man, as I found out later, was a professor who had resided in America and who has acquired a high reputation interiorly and exteriorly. So I began to restart reading this book with my respectful emotion. Then I found that it is a work that required sophisticated social experiences and an advanced skill to use English as a second language, and a profound comprehension to the discrepancy of the eastern and the western culture.
In this book, he collected twenty selected Chinese famous short stories, and categorized them into several sections include Chapter of adventure and mystery, love, ghosts, juvenile, satire, and tales of fancy and humor. Each section was represented by 3 to 5 different stories. I still remember most of them are originated from T’aip’ing Kwangchi, the famous novel Liaotsai written by P’u Sung-ling or some other famous classic analects of grotesque stories.
Since my childhood, I was always interested in those queer stories and those eye-catching folklores. Hence in my mind, I’ve already had a general idea about gist or the plot of those stories. So I was provoked more by the English language and Lin’s approach to interpreting the Chinese culture. While I was reading this book, I laid most of my attention and energy on the language itself rather than the gist, and that is also one of the reasons I didn’t finish it in time.
Now that there are twenty stories in this book, I can’t literally give you an explicit and concrete for each individual. So I decided to give you some of those most impressive stories of them and share with you something about it.
I will start from the backward. He interpreted and polished the story and idiom of 一枕黄粱 ,to “The Drunkard’s Dream”, there is no qualification for me to make any comment literarily, but I still glad to review this story and have my childhood flashing back. In my childhood, I had a book about Chinese idioms, which has left a deep influence to my life, and at that time, I was asked to recite and to familiarize those idioms as basic knowledge. This book, in a way, reminded me of those memorable moments and shining golden memories.
What I meant to say is, personally I deem that most of these stories are well received and widely known by our Chinese, thus it is why I can understand this book generally, such as 小谢 白猿 书痴 南柯太守传 and so forth.
During my reading through this book, I fell to a deep thinking that how can he comprehend two different culture so distinctly and transfer the Chinese idea successfully conveying so much Chinese element and cultural background.
I also noticed that Lin was very good at absorbing the knowledge and writing skills from other writer, he must have been peruse thousands of books in order to strengthen himself for the fundamental of writing an English novel, from his masterpiece, I realized the importance of book of different type, and also I appreciate him for his diligent and industrious spirit, for he must have read so large the amount of books. He is one of my idol who has brought me a lot of inspiration and set an extremely example as a good book reader.
I will keep reading, and I have to let you know that I’m calculated to read the book one hundred years of solitude.
At first, I though it might be pretty easy for me to read an English novel written by a Chinese as a second language learner, however as time went by, I realized I was totally wrong. This man, as I found out later, was a professor who had resided in America and who has acquired a high reputation interiorly and exteriorly. So I began to restart reading this book with my respectful emotion. Then I found that it is a work that required sophisticated social experiences and an advanced skill to use English as a second language, and a profound comprehension to the discrepancy of the eastern and the western culture.
In this book, he collected twenty selected Chinese famous short stories, and categorized them into several sections include Chapter of adventure and mystery, love, ghosts, juvenile, satire, and tales of fancy and humor. Each section was represented by 3 to 5 different stories. I still remember most of them are originated from T’aip’ing Kwangchi, the famous novel Liaotsai written by P’u Sung-ling or some other famous classic analects of grotesque stories.
Since my childhood, I was always interested in those queer stories and those eye-catching folklores. Hence in my mind, I’ve already had a general idea about gist or the plot of those stories. So I was provoked more by the English language and Lin’s approach to interpreting the Chinese culture. While I was reading this book, I laid most of my attention and energy on the language itself rather than the gist, and that is also one of the reasons I didn’t finish it in time.
Now that there are twenty stories in this book, I can’t literally give you an explicit and concrete for each individual. So I decided to give you some of those most impressive stories of them and share with you something about it.
I will start from the backward. He interpreted and polished the story and idiom of 一枕黄粱 ,to “The Drunkard’s Dream”, there is no qualification for me to make any comment literarily, but I still glad to review this story and have my childhood flashing back. In my childhood, I had a book about Chinese idioms, which has left a deep influence to my life, and at that time, I was asked to recite and to familiarize those idioms as basic knowledge. This book, in a way, reminded me of those memorable moments and shining golden memories.
What I meant to say is, personally I deem that most of these stories are well received and widely known by our Chinese, thus it is why I can understand this book generally, such as 小谢 白猿 书痴 南柯太守传 and so forth.
During my reading through this book, I fell to a deep thinking that how can he comprehend two different culture so distinctly and transfer the Chinese idea successfully conveying so much Chinese element and cultural background.
I also noticed that Lin was very good at absorbing the knowledge and writing skills from other writer, he must have been peruse thousands of books in order to strengthen himself for the fundamental of writing an English novel, from his masterpiece, I realized the importance of book of different type, and also I appreciate him for his diligent and industrious spirit, for he must have read so large the amount of books. He is one of my idol who has brought me a lot of inspiration and set an extremely example as a good book reader.
I will keep reading, and I have to let you know that I’m calculated to read the book one hundred years of solitude.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to Read
April 25, 2010I've marked this to reread, having first read it in my teens. These unusual short stories that have left a profound impression on me. One of my favorites is "Passion, or the Western room." Just read this lyrical beginning paragraph:
"Whenever Yuan Chen stopped at an inn in Pucheng on his official travels, the sound of the nearby monastery bells, especially when heard in his bed at dawn, always touched him to the quick and made him feel young and romantic again. He was in his forties, a conventionally happy husband, a popular poet, and a high official who had his many ups and downs. He should have been able to forget, or at least calmly reflect on, a love affair which happened so long ago. But he surprised himself. Twenty years had passed, and the tolling of those monastery bells in the early hours presaging the break of dawn, their familiar pitch and rhythm, still evoked in him a mood of infinite sadness, awaked some deep, hidden emotion, intimate as life itself, and a sense of the strange pathos and beauty of life which even his poetic pen could only suggest. As he lay in bed he recalled the sight of the pale sky with its dim, shimmering stars, the suffocating emotions associated with it, the strong perfumes, and the vision of a smile that was half a smile on the face of the girl who was his first love."
"Whenever Yuan Chen stopped at an inn in Pucheng on his official travels, the sound of the nearby monastery bells, especially when heard in his bed at dawn, always touched him to the quick and made him feel young and romantic again. He was in his forties, a conventionally happy husband, a popular poet, and a high official who had his many ups and downs. He should have been able to forget, or at least calmly reflect on, a love affair which happened so long ago. But he surprised himself. Twenty years had passed, and the tolling of those monastery bells in the early hours presaging the break of dawn, their familiar pitch and rhythm, still evoked in him a mood of infinite sadness, awaked some deep, hidden emotion, intimate as life itself, and a sense of the strange pathos and beauty of life which even his poetic pen could only suggest. As he lay in bed he recalled the sight of the pale sky with its dim, shimmering stars, the suffocating emotions associated with it, the strong perfumes, and the vision of a smile that was half a smile on the face of the girl who was his first love."
April 15, 2019
3.5
Well - it felt more like fables than stories :-) These really short stories are supposedly some of the best Chinese tales and are listed under diverse topics like Adventure, Love, Ghosts, Satire etc in this collection. Good number of them amused me and some were chuckle-worthy indeed. Some left me feeling annoyed for the lack of closure. Not sure if it was lost in translation. My favorite ones are "The Jade Goddess", "The Wolf of Chungsan", "The Poets' Club" and "The White Monkey".
Well - it felt more like fables than stories :-) These really short stories are supposedly some of the best Chinese tales and are listed under diverse topics like Adventure, Love, Ghosts, Satire etc in this collection. Good number of them amused me and some were chuckle-worthy indeed. Some left me feeling annoyed for the lack of closure. Not sure if it was lost in translation. My favorite ones are "The Jade Goddess", "The Wolf of Chungsan", "The Poets' Club" and "The White Monkey".
November 30, 2018
Charmingly narrated, but you can't really say 'translated' - Lin Yutang has the disconcerting habit of introducing each tale's historical background, and then saying 'and then I changed the whole ending so it made more sense'. I would have loved to read these stories without these narrative amendments. Lean into the plotless weirdness, I say!
May 2, 2024
Overall a good book to have when you want a break from another larger text. This is new to me, so it took awhile to finish. Once i got into the style of story being told - some of them were very entertaining (The White Monkey, Jojo, The Man Who Became a Fish). Glad i stumbled upon it and learned something about how these stories were passed down and have many variations.
June 24, 2017
What a find this was. This book was lying on my bookshelf for nearly a decade. I don't know why I hadn't read it all this while, but I just loved the quaint and always gripping stories here.
July 28, 2019
Great collection of stories. Very enjoyable reading.
February 15, 2020
Good for leisure reading
February 20, 2015
I stumbled upon this beat up book by chance in one of my less favorite used book stores. It was practically falling to pieces in my hands but it was so interesting I just had to get it. From that point on I've been reading the short stories within sporadically but I am certainly impressed.
Few short story collections that I've read have been so interesting and diverse. I cannot believe my luck at finding this wonderful read with it's colorful depictions of China a very long time ago.
Few short story collections that I've read have been so interesting and diverse. I cannot believe my luck at finding this wonderful read with it's colorful depictions of China a very long time ago.
January 16, 2016
Great introduction to tales from imperial China's cosmopolitan Tang dynasty, Song dynasty, and Qing dynasty. Includes the original version of the famous Miao-Meng (Hmong) aboriginal tale of Yeh Hsien, the world's oldest Cinderella story.
December 18, 2010
Not as enjoyable as the Judge Dee series
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews