Strange Tales from Liaozhai - Vol. 1

by Pu Songling, Sidney L. Sondergard (Translator, Contributor)

The complete, six-volume English translation of Pu Songling's 聊齋誌異, also known as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

The subjects of Pu Songling's short stories include supernatural creatures, natural disasters, magical aspects of Buddhism and Daoism, and Chinese folklore. These tales form the basis of numerous Chinese films, teleplays, and other artwork.

Genres: Chinese Literature, China, Classics, Folklore, Fiction

424 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1740

About the author

Pu Songling (simplified Chinese: 蒲松龄; traditional Chinese: 蒲松齡; pinyin: Pú Sōnglíng; Wade–Giles: P'u Sung-ling, June 5, 1640—February 25, 1715) was a Qing Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

Pu was born into a poor landlord-merchant family from Zichuan (淄川, now Zibo, Shandong). At the age of nineteen, he received the gongsheng degree in the civil service examination, but it was not until he was seventy-one that he received the xiucai degree.

He spent most of his life working as a private tutor, and collecting the stories that were later published in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. Some critics attribute the Vernacular Chinese novel Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan to him.

Reviews

[Miglė · Rating 5 out of 5]

XVII a. toks Kinijos etnografas surinko labai daug pasakojimų apie vaiduoklius ir ne tik. Buvau skaičiusi kelis atskirus, o dabar pasiėmiau pilną pirmą tomą. Ir štai ką sužinojau apie dvasių pasaulį ir kasdienybę:

• Pomirtinis pasaulis
Pomirtinis pasaulis yra labai biurokratinis. Pvz vienas žvejys susidraugavo su upėje gyvenančia girtuoklio dvasia, bet paskui dėl gero darbo girtuoklio dvasią Dangiškasis Imperatorius paaukštino pareigose ir paskyrė į kitą provinciją. Tai buvo liūdna, nes draugams teko skirtis:(

Dar yra Pragaro Karalius, kuris tvarkosi su sielomis po mirties. Sykį vieną blogą bičą pasiuntė atgimti arkliu, bet anam nepatiko, jis neėdė ir taip nusižudė. Pragaro karalius supyko, kad anas neklauso ir pavertė jį šuniu. Būti šuniu jam buvo neblogai, bet vis tiek nusižudė ir grįžo pas Pragaro karalių. Vėl tu čia – sako Pragaro karalius, ir reinkarnavo jį gyvate, bet kai bičas nusižudė ir būdamas gyvatė, Pragaro karaliui trūko kantrybė ir leido bičui sekančiam gyvenime atgimti žmogum.

O sykį demonai padarė biurokratinę klaidą, ten kažką apsiskaičiavo ir numirė ne tas žmogus, kuris turėjo. Kai Pragaro karalius susiprotėjo, jau buvo praėję kiek laiko – jis atsiprašė to nelaiku numirusio žmogaus ir grąžino jį į jo kūną, bet tas kūnas jau buvo gerokai pagulėjęs ir smirdėjo, to žmogaus šeimai nepatiko naujai atgimęs tėvelis. Tada atgaivinto žmogaus dvasia apsigyveno bičiulio kūne, kuriam tai buvo visai faina, jie vaikščiojo gydydami žmones dvasių stebuklais ir pasidarė daug babkių. Paskui į tą draugo kūną dar įlindo tokio girtuoklio dvasia, tai jie kurį laiką buvo trise vienam kūne, kol girtuoklį dangaus įsakymu išprašė koks tai valdininkas.

• Lapės
Lapės yra tokios gudruolės, kurios gali atrodyti kaip žmonės, bet moka įvairių burtų ir gali visko blogo pridaryti. Bet nebūtinai! Jeigu ateina daili dama ir nori mylėtis su tavimi, tai greičiausiai jinai yra lapė ir tau gali blogai baigtis. O jeigu ateina dailus jaunuolis ir nori mylėtis su tavimi, greičiausiai jis irgi yra lapė ir tau gali blogai baigtis. Realiai jei kažkas nori su tavimi mylėtis, tai yra lapė ir geriau varyti tokius šalin, nes paskui jie gali tau išpjauti monetos dydžio odos gabaliuką iš kojos ir tu mirsi. Bet lapės gali būti visai cool, jei normaliai su jomis elgiesi, o ne puoli graibyti vos pamatęs. Beje, įdomu, kad jei nori subtiliai paflirtuoti, tai reikia įžnybti, pvz į riešą. O jei taip drąsiau, tai tada šių pasakojimų personažai tiesiog graibosi ir tiek. Nei vienas, nei kitas būdas man neatrodo priimtini. Prašau su manimi neflirtuoti.

Vienas bičas ilgai gyveno lapių dvare, mokė bendraamžį jaunuolį, susituokė su viena iš seserų, o su kita tapo gerais draugais. Gale šio pasakojimo Pu Songling pastebi, kaip zjbs draugystė tarp vyro ir moters, geriau negu santuoka realiai.

• Dvasios
Dvasios iš pažiūros visai nesiskiria nuo žmonių, gali gyventi žemėje, valgyti ir pan, tik yra vienas esminis skirtumas – jeigu myliesi su dvasia, gali susirgti, arba sutrumpėja tavo gyvenimas. Ar šioje knygoje viskas apie seksą? – jums gali kilti pagrįstas klausimas. Atsakau: ne viskas, bet nemažai. Pavyzdžiui, viena istorija buvo tiesiog apie tai, kaip moteris mylėjosi su šunim. Ir kai ji buvo vedama už tai pakarti, kareiviai pakeliui susirinko babkių, nes už pinigus rodė praeiviams, kaip moteris mylisi su šunimi. O tada ją pakorė, tiek ir istorijos.

Dvasios dažniausiai būna liūdnos, nes jų kaulai palaidoti ne vietoje, ar šiaip kas negerai. Bet dvasios gali gauti nemirtingumo tabletę, pavogti iš lapės, ar užsidirbti iš Dangiškojo imperatoriaus gerais darbais, nelabai supratau, ką ta tabletė daro, bet dvasioms jinai toks level up. Jei žmogus ją suvalgo, tai tampa nemirtingas, duh.

Būna ir linksmų dvasių, sykį vienas jaunuolis su tokia susituokė, šiaip faina dvaselė, gera užvadėlė anytai etc, labai mėgsta gėles, bet visada juokiasi, tiesiog tamposi žvengdama nuo kiekvieno žodžio. Tos dvasios mama labai atsiprašinėjo jaunuolio, kad tokia netikusi jos dukra, bet jam net netrukdė, kad žmona juokiasi, labai kilnus jaunuolis.

Viena istorija yra apie jaunuolį labai mažu pimpalu. Tiesiog tokia pagrindinė istorijos tema. Jis susipažįsta su dvasiomis, viena prie jo lenda, bet tada nusivilia jo pimpalu ir labai verkia. O kitos mama padaro kažkokį burtą, kad jam pimpalas užaugtų, ir paskui ten jau kažkokie meilės trikampiai prasideda.


Dar man patiko istorija apie gyvačių kerėtoją, kuris turėjo dvi gyvates. Vienos vardas buvo Didžioji Žalioji, o kitos – Kita Žalioji. Paskui Didžioji Žalioji numirė, ir Kita Žalioji parsivedė draugę, kurią kerėtojas pavadino Mažąja Žaliąja. Istorija truputį vystosi toliau, o galiausiai jos moralas yra tai, kad gyvatės, nors ir kvaili gyvūnai, moka priimti gerą patarimą neįsižeisdamos, kai kurie žmonės turėtų to iš jų pasimokyti.

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Apskritai istorijos trumpos ir įdomios, o viena (apie Lavoną) netgi visai baisi.
Rekomenduoju!

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seemed like the typical collection of ancient ghost stories at first. I really liked the introduction of this book. I had never thought of Pu's work as literature before. The introduction added a whole new way to read these stories and to reading other "true" stories about the supernatural.

That said, what really got me about this book is right around the 6th or 9th story out of nowhere there is a perversely charged story about a woman who teaches her dog to have sex with her. Up until this point, the stories were these tame little flash fictions about gremlins and ghosts. This was the only story like this in the collection but its what comes to mind now when I think of Strange Tales.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to finally start this compilation after reading some other compilations of those stories; so, I just had to get to the main volumes.
And this one worked very well, however, what was annoying in all volumes of this collection was the long introduction by the editor. This one here had 32 pages of introduction. I was so annoyed that I skipped the "short" part on the foxes. I am here for the stories and not this crap!
The author’s preface was thankfully much shorter, not that I remember any of it. The stories itself were usually more memorable. In fact, I know that I remembered some of them as I had read them in prior compilations. Some of them I skipped due to that reason.
The stories started strong, like that story about the walking corpse which was creepy and hilarious. Creepy when she breaths her foul and lethal breath on the sleeping victims and hilarious when she tries to catch the one that was not asleep. That was so funny. And for the first time for me, I got to read a story where the fox tries to use his shapeshifting ability to get away. That might sound odd, but usually they seem to have all sorts of powers but can't seem to be able to use it to save their own skin (or use their canine senses). And was that one tale really saying that snakes can become dragons in Chinese tales? Or is he referring to the huge size that the snake will have later? If it is the former, that would be really interesting as I have never heard of that before. This also had a tale about trying to transmute gold. So, it's not just Europeans who tried to do that. The small stories on dragons already fly in the face of the common stereotypes about them. There is no grace to any of them here. The 1st story has one stumbling to the ground, tried to chase away with canons, and dying in a dirty pond. The 2nd one possibly a snake becoming a dragon, the 3third a dragon hibernating around a woman's eyeball (some red flesh) and the 4th a dragon with clutching a man's severed head.
Not that there weren’t some head-scratching elements early on. I mean, so you had this guy who became blind because two small people lived in his eyes and due to them he could see better on one eye later and he seems to be super chill about this (this makes my skin crawl) and then this story talks about some guy who didn't recognize his daughter in law from afar and considered her hot and then there is something about ghosts, Bodhisattvas and supernatural beings. What is that about? And apart from the fact that "Chopping the Python" sounds like a sex slang, but in this story the python had barely swallowed the brother and yet his nose and ears were already digested? What are its stomach acids made of? And in one story that straight up described bestiality, based on the long remark I wonder whether the author is more offended at the dog being an adulterer than the bestiality thing (or the crowds paying to see it). Also, the story stated that the woman had trained the dog to do this but here seems to suggest that the dog started it, especially with the whole jealousy element.
And odd was also, the women in these stories are basically supposed to stay at home and work, but several supernatural ones have skills like medicine that would require studying.
The naming of some stories is also odd, after all, why call one "The Feral Dog"? Was the humanoid corpse eating monster a dog-head? Or is it a euphemism?
And maybe a story should tell us what suffering the fox allegedly caused the woman, then maybe boiling him alive would seem less blood-thirsty. And why is she only referred to as Shi's wife? That is odd.
In some cases, the author gave long remarks but with others, like this story about an at most 8-year-old girl being "seduced" by her future husband and getting pregnant (which means he must have been at least a teenager) we get nothing and the story acts as if this is only a curiosity and not a crime. Really, really odd. Although still better than the one where a small boy is the punishment for his father and once the time is served the boy drops dead. Asshole!!!!
And having a bloodthirsty psychopath as a hero in another tale wasn’t that great either, even if did turn out to be a dream of sorts. But at least I knew what it was about, with one called "The Bridgegroom" I have no idea what it is about. Not even a remark by the author, which is not surprising as there seems to be no rhyme or reason when he remarks on a tale and when not.
But anyway, while I did notice a lack of female protagonist and a rising number of fox and ghost stories, these stories are pretty much all over the place (including some being boring or just not memorable and were blurring into each other).
The topics in them were not as widespread as I had hoped. I think the author did not just collect but edit and selected the tales he allegedly found. Maybe he made some of them up as there are too many too similar in style and theme to be from different authors. Some of these stories are just too damn long and so I forget them almost instantly because I cannot keep track of what is happening. Stories like these are far too long and detailed with too many locations to be handed down orally. Even many fairy tales are not this long. I think it is those that the author created himself. Too much thrown at you at once and much of the shorter stories are way more memorable as a result.
Albeit some might be true folktales or badly written as they make not much sense, respectively some run so counter to what the author usually wrote (like one guy refuses sex because he is married). You see in one tale the protagonist named Zhu heard his mother's weeping from the Underworld. And he has a new wife? From there, I guess. But why is he in the underworld? That female ghost poisoned him with that plant that would make him a restless ghost and as he became her substitute so she could be reincarnated, he should not have been in the Underworld but wandering the earth. So, wtf?!
And of course, these stories can have some, from our time really questionable morals as an earlier example showed. And with the current one, Sanniang (the girl who poisoned him) is his wife now. After she reincarnated, he dragged her spirit back forcibly and now they get along. Wow, and people claim Beauty and the Beast has Stockholme Syndrome in it.
And Pu claims that an illegal spell to turn people into livestock is practiced commonly in the area South of the Yangtze River, which is also where several of the Non-Han people as well as non-Mandarin speakers are. Do I smell a bit of exoticism and discrimination?
And naturally, you find the evil stepmother trope and Northern (aka Manchu soldiers), wondered when that would show up here.
And some of these stories, like one that seems to have a reference to foot binding seem quite eroticized. Combine this with the fact that this is named after a woman, that the previously micropenised protagonist gets a huge dick after being treated by an elder fox lady, when returning home fucks everything with a vagina, possibly gets two wives and his mother is thrilled when she realizes her son is a man-whore and it is clear: This is porn!!!
And then it just ends. With such a forgettable story. The dragon stories were short but at least memorable. No idea why the editor chose to do it like that.

[gowri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't speak on the translation itself but I didn't enjoy the majority of the stories...I wanted to read this classic novel because I heard a lot of Chinese mythology stems from this novel but I didn't expect the rampant misogyny (that's on me but regardless not a great time). Will be continuing to read the rest of the volumes but I can only hope that they're more interesting to me....