Idle talk under the bean arbor : a seventeenth-century Chinese story collection / compiled by Aina the Layman ; with commentary by Ziran the Eccentric Wanderer ; edited by Robert E. Hegel.

Author
Ainajushi [Browse]
Uniform title
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2017]
Description
xxviii, 288 pages ; 24 cm

Details

Subject(s)
Editor
Library of Congress genre(s)
Summary note
"Written around 1660, the unique Chinese short story collection Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor (Doupeng xianhua), by the author known only as Aina the Layman, uses the seemingly innocuous setting of neighbors swapping yarns on hot summer days under a shady arbor to create a series of stories that embody deep disillusionment with traditional values. The tales, ostensibly told by different narrators, parody heroic legends and explore issues that contributed to the fall of the Ming dynasty a couple of decades before this collection was written, including self-centeredness and social violence. These stories speak to all troubled times, demanding that readers confront the pretense that may lurk behind moralistic stances. Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor presents all twelve stories in English translation along with notes from the original commentator, as well as a helpful introduction and analysis of individual stories."--Publisher description.
Notes
  • Translated from the Chinese.
  • "豆棚閒話"--added title page.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents
  • Introduction: gossip and exaggeration in Aina's short stories / Robert E. Hegel
  • Terms of measurement and titles
  • Chronology of China's historical periods (dynasties and states)
  • Preface
  • Foreword
  • Jie Zhitui sets fire to his jealous wife / translated by Mei Chun and Lane J. Harris
  • Fan Li drowns Xishi in West Lake / translated by Li Fang-yu
  • A court-appointed gentleman squanders his wealth but takes power / translated by Alexander C. Wille
  • The commissioner's son wastes his patrimony to revive the family / translated by Li Fang-yu
  • The little beggar who was truly filial / translated by Zhang Jing
  • The exalted monks who faked transcendence / translated by Zhang Jing
  • On Shouyang Mountain, Shuqi becomes a turncoat / translated by Mei Chun and Lane J. Harris
  • With a transparent stone, Master Wei opens blind eyes / translated by Alexander C. Wille
  • Liu the Brave tests a horse on the Yuyang Road / translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen
  • Freeloader Jia forms a league on Tiger Hill / translated by Robert E. Hegel and Xu Yunjing
  • In death, Commander Dang beheads his enemy / translated by Lindsey Waldrop
  • In detail, Rector Chen discources on the cosmos / translated by Robert E. Hegel
  • Afterthoughts on stories
  • Historical and cultural references.
Other title(s)
Seventeenth-century Chinese story collection
ISBN
  • 9780295999975 (hardcover ; : alkaline paper)
  • 0295999977 (hardcover ; : alkaline paper)
LCCN
2016025839
OCLC
958205363
Other standard number
  • 40027046294
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