The Discourse on Fox/Ghost

by Leo Tak-Hung Chan

The fiction of Xu works across boundaries, fusing Daoist traditions with the pessimism of Western nihilism.

Genres: Chinese Literature, Nonfiction

300 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1998

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book because I love scholarly works on the Zhiguai tales of China but it ended up having lots of useful information in it about scholarly communities and printing that I'll be able to use in my dissertation. This book was more intellectual history than social or religious history. Rather than analyzing the stories themselves, it looked at the time and culture of the authors and collectors of zhiguai tales. It examined how these tales fit in with the scholarly discourses of the time. While an interesting discussion I felt like there was an element of discussion missing. I think this was because normally analysis of these tales looks into the beliefs they represent, whereas this book had very little of that. Still it did make for a very interesting and informative read. It mentioned were tales about women being gang raped and men who made their living as female impersonators claiming they had been preordained to do so. Neither of these examples had I come across in zhiguai tales before. From the printing side it talked about how books could wait 100 years before they were printed. Hand written copies would circulate among scholars, who'd add their own commentaries that would often be included in the final published version. The stories that Chan discusses focus mainly on ghosts and fox immortals. These are the ones I find most interesting and greatly enjoyed the selection of stories translated at the back of the book that covered these areas. Many of these stories were ones I'd not read before. I learned a lot reading this book and made many many notes from it. While not quite as interesting as Zeitlin's book on Pu Songlin it was still very informative.

[Evelien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had to read this book because I'm doing my own research on one of Ji Yun's contemporaries who also wrote ghost stories, but this is by far the best book I've read on the subject of 18th century literati and their zhiguai storytelling. Basically, if my own research could look like this, I'd be happy for all eternity.

It's not a book you just read for pleasure, it is scientific in all aspects, but if you're somewhat familiar with the subject, it's a great read.

[yellowbird · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book a hard slog. Of course, I have an unfortunate habit of buying books on things I know nothing about, hoping to learn something new, and then I'm disappointed when I realize the depths of my ignorance. But that's my own fault, and it's not fair of me to blame the book. If I had found this in a bookstore, instead of buying online, the extreme footnotes and glossary containing names in kanji would have detered me.
Still, a friendly warning : this book grew out of the author's doctoral thesis, so don't expect a casual, literary stroll through Eighteenth century ghost telling. If you're willing to persist, I'm sure there's a lot to learn here. As for me, I've put it aside until I get a lot smarter.