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The Marshes of Mount Liang
The Tiger Killers: Part Two of The Marshes of Mount Liang by Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong
The Tiger Killers is the second volume of a new translation of the Chinese classical novel generally known as The Water Margin. Like the first volume, The Broken Seals, it follows the fortunes of various outlaw heroes as they move through a world of treacherous officials, jealous toadies, bullying gaolers, hired assassins, foolhardy generals and cannibalistic innkeepers. This volume contains some of the most famous scenes in the novel, starting with the episode in which Wu Song gets drunk at the tavern, ascends the pass in late evening and kills a notorious man-eating tiger with his bare hands. His subsequent encounter with his midget brother's flirtatious wife, Jinlian or Golden Lotus, and her vain attempt to seduce him lead into a tale of adultery, callous murder and bloody vengeance. The second half of the book is concerned with Song Jiang's attempts to serve out his prison sentence honourably and avoid becoming an outlaw, until he is unjustly condemned to death for a misconstrued poem. Towards the end of this volume we meet the violent Li Kui, variously known as Iron Ox or Black Whirlwind, who also turns out to have a way with tigers. This volume consists of chapters 23 to 43 of the full 120-chapter version of the novel by Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong. It is the first English translation based on this version.
456 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 25, 1997
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334 people want to read
About the author
Shi Nai'an
345 books57 followersShi Nai'an (Chinese: 施耐庵; pinyin: Shī Nài'ān, ca. 1296–1372), was a Chinese writer from Suzhou. He was attributed as the first compiler of the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.
Library of Congress Authorities: Shi, Nai’an, approximately 1290-approximately 1365
Not much biographical information is known about him. Traditionally it was believed that he was a teacher of Luo Guanzhong, who was attributed as a main compiler of Romance of Three Kingdoms, another of the Four Great Classical Novels. Some modern scholars doubt that Shi actually existed, but was merely a pseudonym for Luo himself.
Library of Congress Authorities: Shi, Nai’an, approximately 1290-approximately 1365
Not much biographical information is known about him. Traditionally it was believed that he was a teacher of Luo Guanzhong, who was attributed as a main compiler of Romance of Three Kingdoms, another of the Four Great Classical Novels. Some modern scholars doubt that Shi actually existed, but was merely a pseudonym for Luo himself.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 10, 2016
So different from "The Broken Seals" - am I wrong? The characters in this one were far more blood-and-gory, more criminal, less charming, much less funny. The bit where Wu Song avenges his brother's murder? A bit much for me - and that was only the beginning of the stuff (even including cannibalism). Instead of wrongly-accused or pushed-into-a-corner protagonists, the ones in this book seem bad to begin with. Not to mention the superabundance of names and nicknames - couldn't tell people apart after a while.
It's quite possible that my reaction is a cultural thing - that I just don't get what's going on.
I'll have a peek at number 3, but if it looks at all like this one, I won't be continuing on.
It's quite possible that my reaction is a cultural thing - that I just don't get what's going on.
I'll have a peek at number 3, but if it looks at all like this one, I won't be continuing on.
April 13, 2018
For my general impression of the work Water Margin (here called The Marshes of Mount Liang) see my earlier review of The Broken Seals and my one quoted paragraph at the end of this one.
We learn two key things from this second volume of the five-volume set. First, the so-called 'heroes' who are gathering into a bandit colony on Mount Liang and some nearby strongholds, are actually the demon princes, fallen from the heaven as baleful stars, and released by the foolish General in the beginning of the first volume. (In the first volume this was hinted, but so was the possibility that the bad government officials were the demons.) So, yes, this seems to be a pro-demon enterprise. Second, we learn that these demon princes like human meat, and/or that cannibalism was a major concern for 14th century Chinses audiences.
There are a couple of inns in this story that do a business in drugging their guests, then cutting them up for stew meat and stir-fry. A recurrent event is that one of our heroes is drugged, and then someone just happens to recognize them on the butcher block. Then there's the tedious mixing of the antidote, the revival of the bandit-hero, the revival of his entourage, and everybody is out a free meal. (There was a case like this in Charleston SC back in the 1800s, Six Mile House, as I recall from a ghost tour...so it's clearly a viable business plan.) We also get a wannabe government official tortured to death slowly by cutting bits of him off, frying and eating them, and then cutting the next bit, de capo. And if you've just massacred some enemies, or maybe just bystanders, this book suggests that cutting some thigh meat and cooking it up is the next logical step.
Forty-three chapters in, some of these episodes are getting repetitive. Song Jiang, for instance, may be the Heavenly Prince in human incarnation, but the guy's a stupid twit. He is FOREVER going off somewhere alone and getting caught, or drugged (and revived, see above), or arrested, or kidnapped. No sooner do the bandits of Mount Liang rescue him and bring him back for celebrations, but he comes up with another hare-brained excuse to go get snagged again.
Frankly, if he does it again, I may have his ashes dug up, just so I can shoot him.
On the other hand, the growing ranks of the bandits (eventually 108 of them will have gathered, but they're still in the 30s in this book, as I recall), given there seem to be a hundred lesser soldiers for each one of them, means that they're fighting major military actions some of the time. The battle scenes are bigger, more elaborate, more interesting.
The martial arts are implied, but not described in any detail. There were fewer duels in this volume. And only one mention of a gun, anywhere.
For a general comment, I quote from my review of Book I: This monster novel (120 chapters, in five volumes) is interesting, but not very engaging for the reader of modern novels or short stories. It was meant, it seems, to be read and performed, with musical accompaniment to support the bad poetry, and with breaks between chapters for meals and drinking or a good night's sleep. The chapters aren't structured like short stories, so they don't come to satisfying endings. They generally end in cliffhangers, with a sentence luring you to come back after tea for the next performance. The whole isn't a structured novel, either.
We learn two key things from this second volume of the five-volume set. First, the so-called 'heroes' who are gathering into a bandit colony on Mount Liang and some nearby strongholds, are actually the demon princes, fallen from the heaven as baleful stars, and released by the foolish General in the beginning of the first volume. (In the first volume this was hinted, but so was the possibility that the bad government officials were the demons.) So, yes, this seems to be a pro-demon enterprise. Second, we learn that these demon princes like human meat, and/or that cannibalism was a major concern for 14th century Chinses audiences.
There are a couple of inns in this story that do a business in drugging their guests, then cutting them up for stew meat and stir-fry. A recurrent event is that one of our heroes is drugged, and then someone just happens to recognize them on the butcher block. Then there's the tedious mixing of the antidote, the revival of the bandit-hero, the revival of his entourage, and everybody is out a free meal. (There was a case like this in Charleston SC back in the 1800s, Six Mile House, as I recall from a ghost tour...so it's clearly a viable business plan.) We also get a wannabe government official tortured to death slowly by cutting bits of him off, frying and eating them, and then cutting the next bit, de capo. And if you've just massacred some enemies, or maybe just bystanders, this book suggests that cutting some thigh meat and cooking it up is the next logical step.
Forty-three chapters in, some of these episodes are getting repetitive. Song Jiang, for instance, may be the Heavenly Prince in human incarnation, but the guy's a stupid twit. He is FOREVER going off somewhere alone and getting caught, or drugged (and revived, see above), or arrested, or kidnapped. No sooner do the bandits of Mount Liang rescue him and bring him back for celebrations, but he comes up with another hare-brained excuse to go get snagged again.
Frankly, if he does it again, I may have his ashes dug up, just so I can shoot him.
On the other hand, the growing ranks of the bandits (eventually 108 of them will have gathered, but they're still in the 30s in this book, as I recall), given there seem to be a hundred lesser soldiers for each one of them, means that they're fighting major military actions some of the time. The battle scenes are bigger, more elaborate, more interesting.
The martial arts are implied, but not described in any detail. There were fewer duels in this volume. And only one mention of a gun, anywhere.
For a general comment, I quote from my review of Book I: This monster novel (120 chapters, in five volumes) is interesting, but not very engaging for the reader of modern novels or short stories. It was meant, it seems, to be read and performed, with musical accompaniment to support the bad poetry, and with breaks between chapters for meals and drinking or a good night's sleep. The chapters aren't structured like short stories, so they don't come to satisfying endings. They generally end in cliffhangers, with a sentence luring you to come back after tea for the next performance. The whole isn't a structured novel, either.
February 27, 2013
Mord und Bestechung
Der chinesische Literat Lin Yutang schrieb über die in diesem Band versammelten Kapitel, dass sie die besten des ganzen Werks sind - und dem kann ich mich nur anschließen. Gerade die Wu-Song-Episode ist wohl der bekannteste, beliebteste und unterhaltsamste Teil des Shuihuzhuan.
Darüberhinaus ist der Rachefeldzug dieses Helden, der geplant und kaltblütig den ganzen Haushalt dessen auslöscht, der Wu Songs Bruder auf dem Gewissen hat, nur ein Beispiel, wie die Helden dieses Romans moralisch sehr zweideutig angelegt sind. Einerseits, in ihrer Welt der "Flüsse und Seen", sind sie geachtete und geliebte Figuren, die ihrem Kodex streng folgen. Andererseits sind sie Psychopathen, Frauenhasser, Massenmörder, Diebe und Kannibalen. Wie Song Jiang seine Frau tötet und dafür gelobt wird, wie Yan Shun mal schnell die Kehle der Magistratenehefrau durchschneidet und dann auf der Blutlache ein Bankett zu seinen Ehren veranstaltet wird, wie die, die sonst Wanderer zu gefüllten Pasteten verarbeiten als geschätzte Blutsbrüder geehrt werden - all das stößt dem heutigen Leser vielleicht etwas sauer auf. Doch so ist die Welt dieser zwielichtigen Gestalten eben, und gerade das macht den Reiz dieses Romans aus - keine Lichtgestalten, sondern fehlerhafte Menschen als Protagonisten. Unglaublich unverfroren auch, wie manche Helden wie beispielsweise Qin Ming dazu gebracht werden, der Räuberbande beizutreten: Man zerstört seine bisherige Existenz und stellt ihn vor vollendete Tatsachen. Dieses Muster taucht öfters im Roman auf, und zeigt, dass sich hier nicht die edlen Gesellen vom Sherwood Forest zusammentun, sondern ein bunter Haufen von der unausweichlichen Himmelsmacht zusammengeführt wird, der einen göttlichen Plan zu erfüllen hat.
Auch interessante Einblicke in die Sozialstruktur des alten China offenbaren sich vor dem Leser: Die allgegenwärtige Bestechungskultur, durch die die Beliebtheit mancher Helden wie Song Jiang erst möglich wird, sorgt dafür, dass Verbrecher im Gefängnis besser leben als die hart arbeitende Bevölkerung.
Der Stil der Übersetzung geht nahtlos vom Vorgängerband weiter - sehr klare, lesbare Sprache, toll übertragene Gedichte und viel bodenständiges Gefluche lassen keine Langeweile aufkommen. Eine wirklich gelungene Übersetzung eines Meisterwerks der Weltliteratur.
Der chinesische Literat Lin Yutang schrieb über die in diesem Band versammelten Kapitel, dass sie die besten des ganzen Werks sind - und dem kann ich mich nur anschließen. Gerade die Wu-Song-Episode ist wohl der bekannteste, beliebteste und unterhaltsamste Teil des Shuihuzhuan.
Darüberhinaus ist der Rachefeldzug dieses Helden, der geplant und kaltblütig den ganzen Haushalt dessen auslöscht, der Wu Songs Bruder auf dem Gewissen hat, nur ein Beispiel, wie die Helden dieses Romans moralisch sehr zweideutig angelegt sind. Einerseits, in ihrer Welt der "Flüsse und Seen", sind sie geachtete und geliebte Figuren, die ihrem Kodex streng folgen. Andererseits sind sie Psychopathen, Frauenhasser, Massenmörder, Diebe und Kannibalen. Wie Song Jiang seine Frau tötet und dafür gelobt wird, wie Yan Shun mal schnell die Kehle der Magistratenehefrau durchschneidet und dann auf der Blutlache ein Bankett zu seinen Ehren veranstaltet wird, wie die, die sonst Wanderer zu gefüllten Pasteten verarbeiten als geschätzte Blutsbrüder geehrt werden - all das stößt dem heutigen Leser vielleicht etwas sauer auf. Doch so ist die Welt dieser zwielichtigen Gestalten eben, und gerade das macht den Reiz dieses Romans aus - keine Lichtgestalten, sondern fehlerhafte Menschen als Protagonisten. Unglaublich unverfroren auch, wie manche Helden wie beispielsweise Qin Ming dazu gebracht werden, der Räuberbande beizutreten: Man zerstört seine bisherige Existenz und stellt ihn vor vollendete Tatsachen. Dieses Muster taucht öfters im Roman auf, und zeigt, dass sich hier nicht die edlen Gesellen vom Sherwood Forest zusammentun, sondern ein bunter Haufen von der unausweichlichen Himmelsmacht zusammengeführt wird, der einen göttlichen Plan zu erfüllen hat.
Auch interessante Einblicke in die Sozialstruktur des alten China offenbaren sich vor dem Leser: Die allgegenwärtige Bestechungskultur, durch die die Beliebtheit mancher Helden wie Song Jiang erst möglich wird, sorgt dafür, dass Verbrecher im Gefängnis besser leben als die hart arbeitende Bevölkerung.
Der Stil der Übersetzung geht nahtlos vom Vorgängerband weiter - sehr klare, lesbare Sprache, toll übertragene Gedichte und viel bodenständiges Gefluche lassen keine Langeweile aufkommen. Eine wirklich gelungene Übersetzung eines Meisterwerks der Weltliteratur.
September 28, 2023
a bit of a struggle to get through this after how much i loved part 1. when i started the broken seals i went in worried it'd be tedious and dusty, hard to enjoy from a modern perspective, but it shocked me how readable and fun it was. this one, though, turned out to be much more in line with my expectations.
one of my favourite things about part 1 was the constant rotation through new characters & settings, orbiting each other's lives in different ways, and eventually seeing how those disparate parts fit together, but this one focuses pretty much entirely on one character for the first half and another character for the second. the first half was enjoyable enough despite the stagnation, but the second half is soooo boring.
song jiang does not deserve this many chapters in a row dedicated solely to him, he's fine in small doses but it is SO dull focusing only on him for this long. the author can only write one scene for him - song jiang gets captured or knocked out or something, is about to be killed, when suddenly someone walks in and recognises him as the famous Song Jiang the Just and the captor is so embarrassed that he almost killed such a chad that he kowtows and lets him go. he does this an unbelievable number of times, sometimes more than once in a single chapter. it was charming at first but drove me insane by the end. also, while book one had many characters overall, generally they would move in & out of the story, at any given time you weren't expected to remember & care about more than maybe 6 characters. in this book, since we stay with song jiang for so long, he keeps making new friends and they pile up until there's just so many names to remember at once and i'm already checked out by this point so it's tough.
this is still a spectacular translation, but the source material lets this one down. i hope the subsequent parts take more cues from part 1 than from 2, this was a tough slog.
one of my favourite things about part 1 was the constant rotation through new characters & settings, orbiting each other's lives in different ways, and eventually seeing how those disparate parts fit together, but this one focuses pretty much entirely on one character for the first half and another character for the second. the first half was enjoyable enough despite the stagnation, but the second half is soooo boring.
song jiang does not deserve this many chapters in a row dedicated solely to him, he's fine in small doses but it is SO dull focusing only on him for this long. the author can only write one scene for him - song jiang gets captured or knocked out or something, is about to be killed, when suddenly someone walks in and recognises him as the famous Song Jiang the Just and the captor is so embarrassed that he almost killed such a chad that he kowtows and lets him go. he does this an unbelievable number of times, sometimes more than once in a single chapter. it was charming at first but drove me insane by the end. also, while book one had many characters overall, generally they would move in & out of the story, at any given time you weren't expected to remember & care about more than maybe 6 characters. in this book, since we stay with song jiang for so long, he keeps making new friends and they pile up until there's just so many names to remember at once and i'm already checked out by this point so it's tough.
this is still a spectacular translation, but the source material lets this one down. i hope the subsequent parts take more cues from part 1 than from 2, this was a tough slog.
January 19, 2022
The second volume of the five volume Marshes of Mount Liang (aka The Water Margin) this was not as good as the first volume. The primary focus here is on Wu Song and Song Jiang and while these two come across as Robin Hood style heroes, the others in the gang on Mount Liang seem to be pretty bad characters: murder, mayhem, and even cannibalism so that despite the corruption, greed, and sheer criminality of the various powers that be, it is hard to feel any sympathy with our "heroes."
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September 29, 2022the unsolved mysteries of cannibal robin hood in medieval china
actually I have to see if any of the tv or film versions of this are any good before the Netflix version hits and honestly a gore soaked wuxia of the marshes of mount liang would be badass hopefully they keep it real like a vhs horror movie
gonna be chinese game of thrones I’m ready
actually I have to see if any of the tv or film versions of this are any good before the Netflix version hits and honestly a gore soaked wuxia of the marshes of mount liang would be badass hopefully they keep it real like a vhs horror movie
gonna be chinese game of thrones I’m ready
July 9, 2018
A really enjoyable read, just like the first one. I liked the scenes where we followed Song Jiang the best, though the other characters were great as well. Iron Ox was a bit too over the top for me, and the excessive amount of cannibalism was kind of strange, but other than that it was great!
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June 22, 2024Takes "eat the rich" very literally
January 15, 2013
A strong 3. Much of this installment is dedicated to the adventures of Song Jiang, whom I believe is one of the more important characters in The Water Margin, or so the Suikopedia tells me.
It's best summed up as "Series of tough guys get drunk and beat up people in the name of justice." (Ironically, Song Jiang doesn't fall under this category.) There's a much more macho element to this installment than the last, which is less interesting for me, but the brisk pace continues, with one more annoyingly repeated phrase, something about how this or that happens in the blink of an eye. (I think this would be helpful in the original Chinese, though, for someone who struggles with the language the way I do.)
It's best summed up as "Series of tough guys get drunk and beat up people in the name of justice." (Ironically, Song Jiang doesn't fall under this category.) There's a much more macho element to this installment than the last, which is less interesting for me, but the brisk pace continues, with one more annoyingly repeated phrase, something about how this or that happens in the blink of an eye. (I think this would be helpful in the original Chinese, though, for someone who struggles with the language the way I do.)
March 8, 2018
This is the second book of the five-volume Dent-Young translation of one of the four great Chinese classics, commonly known as "Water Margin." On the plus side, it continues to be a quick read, evidently meant to entertain, with humorous incidents and generous helpings of action, and many interesting details. I note that it also has touches of fantasy, including one encounter with a goddess that reminded me of similar scenes in "The Journey to the West," another of the four Chinese classics.
When reading the previous volume of this story, I failed to warm to the group of characters referred to as the heroes. In this second volume, my feelings toward the heroes ranged from dislike to abhorrence. I particularly hated it when they took revenge on an individual by slaughtering that individual's household members. For example, here is a quote from chapter 41, "The members of Bee Sting Huang's household, family and others, young or old, some forty or fifty all told, were slain one and all." A similar scene takes place, in more detail, in chapter 31. I'm also not partial to the heroes indulging in cannibalism. I recognize that they do stand up for each other, which could be seen as commendable, but it fails to offset their nastier traits. At least for me.
When reading the previous volume of this story, I failed to warm to the group of characters referred to as the heroes. In this second volume, my feelings toward the heroes ranged from dislike to abhorrence. I particularly hated it when they took revenge on an individual by slaughtering that individual's household members. For example, here is a quote from chapter 41, "The members of Bee Sting Huang's household, family and others, young or old, some forty or fifty all told, were slain one and all." A similar scene takes place, in more detail, in chapter 31. I'm also not partial to the heroes indulging in cannibalism. I recognize that they do stand up for each other, which could be seen as commendable, but it fails to offset their nastier traits. At least for me.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews