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The Cloak of Dreams: Chinese Fairy Tales: Chinese Fairy Tales
A man is changed into a flea and must bring his future parents together in order to become human again. A woman convinces a river god to cure her sick son, but the remedy has mixed consequences. A young man must choose whether to be close to his wife's soul or body. And two deaf mutes transcend their physical existence in the garden of dreams. Strange and fantastical, these fairy tales of Bela Balazs (1884-1949), Hungarian writer, film critic, and famous librettist of "Bluebeard's Castle," reflect his profound interest in friendship, alienation, and Taoist philosophy. Translated and introduced by Jack Zipes, one of the world's leading authorities on fairy tales, "The Cloak of Dreams" brings together sixteen of Balazs's unique and haunting stories.Written in 1921, these fairy tales were originally published with twenty images drawn in the Chinese style by painter Mariette Lydis, and this new edition includes a selection of Lydis's brilliant illustrations. Together, the tales and pictures accentuate the motifs and themes that run throughout Balazs's wandering protagonists, mysterious woods and mountains, solitude, and magical transformation. His fairy tales express our deepest desires and the hope that, even in the midst of tragedy, we can transcend our difficulties and forge our own destinies.Unusual, wondrous fairy tales that examine the world's cruelties and twists of fate, "The Cloak of Dreams" will entertain, startle, and intrigue.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1974
8 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
About the author
Béla Balázs
68 books10 followersBéla Balázs born Herbert Bauer, was a Hungarian-Jewish film critic, aesthete, writer and poet.
Balázs was the son of German-born parents, adopting his nom de plume in newspaper articles written before his 1902 move to Budapest, where he studied Hungarian and German at the Eötvös Collegium.
Balázs was the son of German-born parents, adopting his nom de plume in newspaper articles written before his 1902 move to Budapest, where he studied Hungarian and German at the Eötvös Collegium.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 1, 2013
Innovative, crafted out his own fairy tales based on images drawn by another wacky mind.
November 18, 2010
A curious, artfully contrived book of "oddly modern fairy tales" by a character whose life was itself catastrophically confabulated. Béla Balázs (nom de plume of Herbert Bauer, 1884-1949) was an anarchic mystical neo-romantic writer, screenwriter (to Leni Riefenstahl, among others) and avant-garde film critic as well as a committed Communist – a confusion he expressed in dicta like "Everything depends on our spiritualizing communism into a religion." Hardly surprising then to find this Hungarian Jew-turned-Catholic-turned-Communist writing Chinese fairy tales in German.
All this I base on the introduction by Jack Zipes, the neo-Marxist professor of fairy tales. As usual, it's an introduction best read afterward, because the professor does go on, peppering his text with turgid quotes – "a deeply seated insecurity about the relations between human beings (felt as the social reification of domination)" – and unpardonable paradoxes. "The fairy tale does not have any limits, and consequently, it is also not without limits." Not the sort of thing I need before bed.
As for the tales themselves – the most interesting thing about them is how they came to be written: in 1921 the illustrator Mariette Lydis had composed twenty "Chinese" aquarelles and was looking for a writer to create stories around them. In three weeks! Balázs accepted the challenge, and from this perspective the book is a minor miracle.
On the other hand, from the perspective of jaded readers like me, the tales suffer the deficit of most "constrained writing" exercises: they lose in charm what they possess in ingenuity. (As does that sentence.) Compared to the beautiful re-creations of Angela Carter, for example, these tales are a bit stilted and sour. A few were so grim I laughed out loud. In "The Ancestors" a minor customs officer is cornered and cannibalized by the skulls of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. In the final tale, "The Victor," a jousting general's victories lead directly to defeat, and concludes "After cursing his strength, he hanged himself on the first tree he saw." And yes, those were the two I liked best. So much for happily ever after.
All this I base on the introduction by Jack Zipes, the neo-Marxist professor of fairy tales. As usual, it's an introduction best read afterward, because the professor does go on, peppering his text with turgid quotes – "a deeply seated insecurity about the relations between human beings (felt as the social reification of domination)" – and unpardonable paradoxes. "The fairy tale does not have any limits, and consequently, it is also not without limits." Not the sort of thing I need before bed.
As for the tales themselves – the most interesting thing about them is how they came to be written: in 1921 the illustrator Mariette Lydis had composed twenty "Chinese" aquarelles and was looking for a writer to create stories around them. In three weeks! Balázs accepted the challenge, and from this perspective the book is a minor miracle.
On the other hand, from the perspective of jaded readers like me, the tales suffer the deficit of most "constrained writing" exercises: they lose in charm what they possess in ingenuity. (As does that sentence.) Compared to the beautiful re-creations of Angela Carter, for example, these tales are a bit stilted and sour. A few were so grim I laughed out loud. In "The Ancestors" a minor customs officer is cornered and cannibalized by the skulls of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. In the final tale, "The Victor," a jousting general's victories lead directly to defeat, and concludes "After cursing his strength, he hanged himself on the first tree he saw." And yes, those were the two I liked best. So much for happily ever after.
May 9, 2018
Half of this book canonizing Balazs, a Hungarian literary talent as a hedonistic man, octracized from his Jew community, with sad love affairs, as he turned to metaphysic, eastern theosophy from western style of writing.
While his affairs are colorful parts of his life, his life is lonely. Probably why he put his literary talent into writing fairy tales. While his other works are splendor and grandeur, this works is more of 'experiment' instead of masterpiece. I, myself personally a reader of western fiction who turned to sino literary, on this fact I do share the author backstory, I only can say this work can only be commonplace in sinosphere.
While his affairs are colorful parts of his life, his life is lonely. Probably why he put his literary talent into writing fairy tales. While his other works are splendor and grandeur, this works is more of 'experiment' instead of masterpiece. I, myself personally a reader of western fiction who turned to sino literary, on this fact I do share the author backstory, I only can say this work can only be commonplace in sinosphere.
March 2, 2012
I thought that this would be a book like Some Chinese Ghosts: translations of Chinese stories. But this is actually original stories with a somewhat Chinese flavor. The story about parasols with pictures of different skies painted on the underside was excellent. And there was one gory and creepy ghost-type story. The story of the flea who has to reunite his past-life mortal parents made me think of Back to the Future. (Though the ending was rather vulgar.)
There is some good imagery here, and it seems like a good translation. But some of the others were boring, or blurred into sameness with the other stories.
Skip the introduction. I'll summarize it for you: Balazs was a socialist Hungarian Hemingway. There, I just saved you over 40 pages of tedious reading. The stories themselves are quick, light reads.
The illustrator, Mariette Lydis, did some nice work in other contexts, but the illustrations here are mostly creepy.
Start date is approximate.
There is some good imagery here, and it seems like a good translation. But some of the others were boring, or blurred into sameness with the other stories.
Skip the introduction. I'll summarize it for you: Balazs was a socialist Hungarian Hemingway. There, I just saved you over 40 pages of tedious reading. The stories themselves are quick, light reads.
The illustrator, Mariette Lydis, did some nice work in other contexts, but the illustrations here are mostly creepy.
Start date is approximate.
December 31, 2015
Did not realize these weren't really fairy tales from China before reading, but interesting stories nonetheless!
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January 30, 2018This book takes you to a world of yearning. The feeling to escape the world and the troubles.... longing for love and friendship.. “Oh, how near you are, my beautiful, sad Li-Fan. You have flown from the sharp fine bristles of my brush, and the valley of the white apple blossoms lies here on my white rice paper. This book is imbued with Taoist philosophy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews