醒世恒言（上下）

by 冯梦龙 Feng Menglong, 冯梦龙 Feng Menglong

《醒世恒言》，白话短篇小说集。明末冯梦龙纂辑，与冯氏的另二种话本小说集《喻世明言》（即《古今小说》）、《警世通言》合称"三言"。其题材或来自民间传说，或来自史传和唐、宋小说。编撰者创作成分较多。内容修饰润色较精，形象鲜明，结构充实完整，描写细腻，不同程度反映了当时的社会面貌和市民思想感情。

Genres: China, Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1627

About the author

Feng Menglong (1574–1646) was a Chinese vernacular writer and poet of the late Ming Dynasty.

Most of his literary work was in editing and compiling histories, almanacs and novels. Two of his noteworthy novels are Qing Shi and the shenmo work Pingyao Zhuan. In 1620 he published the Illustrious Words to Instruct the World (喻世明言 Yushi Mingyan), or Stories Old and New.

Feng was a proponent of the school of Li Zhi, which supported the importance of human feelings and behavior in literature. He is frequently associated with Ling Mengchu, author of Slapping the Table in Amazement.

Feng Menglong was in love with a famous prostitute when he was young. Unfortunately, Feng Menglong was not able to afford to redeem his lover out. At the end, his lover was redeemed by a merchant, and they had to leave each other. Feng Menglong suffered from pain and desperation due to the separation, and he expressed his sorrow through poems. This experience influenced the way he portrayed female characters in his stories. In fact, Feng Menglong was one of the few authors who portrayed female as being strong and intelligent; and this is different from other authors, where they tended to ignore the importance of female’s position. The female characters in Feng Menglong’s stories were portrayed as brave and bright when dealing with different situations. For instance, in his story Wan Xiuniang Takes Revenge Through Toy Pavilions from Jing Shi Tong Yan, Wan Xiuniang showed her braveness during her tough times, and she was able to escape using her intelligence. Other female characters, such as Miss Du Shi Niang and Qu Xiuxiu, are example to show Feng Menglong’s respect to female.

Feng Menglong expressed his attitudes towards the society through his works, and the reason was tightly related to his experience during his career. Feng Menglong became a local officer in Shouning in his sixties. He pursued justice and wished to build up his reputation by acting as an honest and upright official. Unfortunately, he was born in a time of corruption; bribery and extortion were common bureaucratic behaviors, and they opposed the principle of Feng Menglong. Realizing that atmosphere of corruption could not be easily changed, Feng Menglong conveyed his discontent and patriotism through words. Each character of his stories has strong and direct characteristics: there is a clear morality line drawn between “good” and “bad”. Moreover, the meaning behind the stories explores the social issues during Ming Dynasty. For instance, the story The White Maiden Locked for Eternity in Leifeng Pagoda and The Young Lady Gives the Young Man a Gift of Money from Jing Shi Tong Yan express the idea of how women pursue their freedom and happiness under a feudal society.

Reviews

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a book which promotes ancient Chinese life wisdoms via a collection of stories (40 short stories in total). It is a part of the collection of San Yan Liang Pai by Menglong Feng. Since the stories were not written by the same person, the writing styles and the topics are quite diverse. It is also not surprising to notice that some stories are just so so. I like this book because it is positive, and most of the stories are really good.

[Lulu]

1627