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This is said to be one of the most important novels in Chinese history and I don't want to miss out on the rest of it. As Xi-feng drops off to sleep, Qin-shi stops in to visit her. Lists with This Book. Illnesses, loaning money, deaths, construction projects, birthdays, and whatever else is going on in their lives makes up the majority of the activity in this book. Readers have a lot to look forward to this year! Browse all BookRags Study Guides. But over and above the novel hangs the constant reminder that there is another plane of existence — a theme which affirms the Buddhist belief in a supernatural scheme of things. One could say that nothing really happens but the minutiae of human life inhabits every page. On the one hand, much of the story is lighthearted and whimsical in a way that reminds me of nothing more than Western children's literature. Bao-yu's sister Yuan-chun has been raised to become an Imperial Concubine, and features mostly indirectly. Whether this makes him some kind of "proto- feminist" is debatable, but he was certainly a philogynist. There are some characters who are almost the same age but at very different positions in the family, and vice versa. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the rest of the novel trying to figure out who might have been meant by each riddle…for example: When power is lost, rank matters not a jot; when families fall, kinship must not be forgot. Dec 25, J. It just so happens that Bao-yu is the personification of the stone, having been born with the jade in his very own mouth. In fact, through at least half of this first volume, I gave up trying to differentiate characters from one another at all with a few exceptions, so that they all became something like shifting heads on a hydra. In chapter five he falls asleep and has a dream of the Land of Illusion. As a result, it was quite difficult to get my bearings in the early chapters, as I was confronted with a flurry of names, some of which recurred from chapter to chapter and some of which didn't. Language: Mandarin English. Qin Zhong finally hears Bao-yu and begs the spirits to allow him just a moment back in the living world with his friend--the spirits learn the friend is Bao-yu, full of mischief and vibrancy, and who, to boot, is a descendant of the Duke of Rong-guo. In some ways this is an easier read, but in others it's hard to follow. Hawkes, in his introduction to volume one, suggests they were edited by a family member before being used by Gao E. We're in a context vacuum here; I know next to nothing about Chinese literature, Confucianism, upper crust life in the Qing Dynasty, Buddhism. Good News Translation King Nebuchadnezzar had a gold statue made, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and he had it set up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. But, this is only the first volume. This is combined with excruciating details which at times can be beautiful, but overall becomes a heavy forest of words for the reader to slog through. Alternate Versions. His visit, in a dream, to the Land of Illusion is described, where a fairy named Disenchantment reveals the predestined futures of many of his girl-cousins and maids, at the same time gently berating him for being such a lustful creature in his case it is Lust of the Mind. I'm currently on page Don't you want readers to know what they're getting into? As the novel proceeds, however, the girls are scattered, by death, dismissal, marriage, and other misfortunes — and for Bao-yu, and by implication Cao Xueqin, marriage really is a misfortune. Watch the video. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. This stone can speak, write poetry, turns itself into jade, and places itself in the mouth of the baby Bao-yu who is born into the prestigious Wang family of the Jia clan. See 1 question about The Golden Days…. For the Chinese, however, The Story of the Stone is a talisman. Something like 3 stars for enjoyment, bumped up to four for novelty and for my curiosity about where this is all going. It starts with the story of goddess Nu-wa repairing the heavens with various stones, and there is one that is left unused and so it tossed down to earth. I hesitate to give it too strong a recommendation given that I've still got four volumes left to go, but, this book is considered a classic for a reason, right? One event flows into the next, and by the end of the volume nothing much seems to have happened and no one seems to have changed. It depicts gay life in Taipei and discovers a darker side to Taipei, as well as exploring despair, reincarnation and hope. He lectured his subjects on the need to read it five times, while his secretary, Hu Qiaomu, claimed that the Great Helmsman himself had read it 25 times. In any case, I'll definitely be continuing to the second volume of five. The Story of the Stone: Golden Days Volume 1 Writer

Shelves: five-star. In fact, through at least half of this first volume, I gave up trying to differentiate characters from one another at all with a few exceptions, so that they all became something like shifting heads on a hydra. He's concerned particularly with the girls of the house who are are all uniquely interesting, intelligent, competent, and refined, yet will never garner the ounce of respect he gets for just having been born lucky. His sister Ying-chun is apathetic and withdrawn from the world. Print Word PDF. In the earlier part of the story, the outside world mostly intrudes in comic "low life" episodes: a schoolboy riot in the clan school, retaliation by Xi-Feng against unwanted advances from a would-be lover, a visit by country bumpkin Grannie Liu, blow-back when an actor Xue Pan takes a fancy for turns out to be a martial-arts expert, and so forth. But there is also viciousness in some characters who seemed angelic before and the result is a rich tapestry, not of caricatures, but of people that truly come alive. Chinese scholars like to compare Cao Xueqin to Shakespeare and have subjected his novel to similarly intense analysis a field known as "Redology" , but a better parallel to The Story of the Stone might be the works of Jane Austen. This Penguin edition provides family trees in the appendix and I am so grateful. World English Bible Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its breadth six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Like I said: this is a time machine and the descriptions are the wiring that make it all work. Most of the other characters are related to Bao-yu, who is a kind of anthropological Ego in the extended Jia kinship network. Events become darker as the story progresses, involving unhappy marriages and problems with the family finances — the Jia rely on rents from their land, but are living beyond their means. It's a lot wittier and a lot more full of life than I expected. Story of the Stone Series: Related Titles. And yet a complete and highly readable English translation has been available in Penguin Classics for nearly 30 years. I just hope I remember most of the plot. Chairman Mao and his last wife, Jiang Qing, were both Stone-aficionados. Xi-feng learns that Jia Rui wishes to talk with her about something. A passage elaborates upon how Bao-yu's upbringing in the female presence has led to an undercurrent of belief that the pure essence of humanity is concentrated in the female, and that the male embodies the dregs and off-scourings, brutes without distinction. However, reading the first two volumes of Proust this book is very different as well. She is learned but unassuming and always a voice of commonsense, reason, and compassion; her perspective provides the reader a stable point of return throughout the novel. As the story progresses, we can follow the main characters and look into the daily life of a fictional Chinese noble family, there are romances, tragedies, family dramas, rivalries, conflicts and so much more in the book, all of them richly written by the author The Story of the Stone, also known as Dreams In the Red Chamber , is probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Chinese classical novels of all time. The main reason I'm reading this book, I guess, is because it's considered one of the four Classic Chinese Novels which is an actual thing. The Story of the Stone: Golden Days Volume 1 Reviews

The times may change, but people never will. Bao-yu and Xi-feng pay Qin-shi a visit. Full Cast and Crew. This intertwining of desire and enlightenment, of passion and disenchantment, lies at the heart of the novel. Sign in. He is never able to really figure it out though, for he is effectively trapped in the Jia household with his family and almost never gets out in the world. The Story of the Stone follows his movements within the compounds of two wealthy families and shows the everyday life of the elite and their servants. She is, however, somewhat passionless, and almost too perfect. I could almost put a real life name to most of the characters in the movie, have had most of those conversations on a day-to- day basis over the years, and seen or experienced most of the events that happen. This is the superficial stuff that I can say to my family: Wang Xifeng terrifies and inspires me. Discuss the view and role of medicine in 18th century China as revealed in this novel. Thankfully, this edition has an appendix of characters. Uncle She is more of a playboy, as is cousin Zhen. In the earlier part of the story, the outside world mostly intrudes in comic "low life" episodes: a schoolboy riot in the clan school, retaliation by Xi-Feng against unwanted advances from a would-be lover, a visit by country bumpkin Grannie Liu, blow-back when an actor Xue Pan takes a fancy for turns out to be a martial-arts expert, and so forth. So although he also loves her, they stay at an impasse for the whole book. I'm going to take a break though. Added to Watchlist. It's just an example of what this book does: it's very description heavy when it comes to the surroundings people find themselves in. Apart from its literary merits, Chinese readers recommend it as the best starting point for any understanding of Chinese psychology, culture and society. Each chapter ends with a tease. More about Cao Xueqin. There's also Bao-yu's aunt Xue, Bao-chai's mother, and his scheming aunt Zhao. Along with plot elements such as a "mirror protagonist", this also reflects an awareness of the creative process itself. This seems to me to provide ample opportunity for the visitation of the fairy Disenchantment. I can't decide if it is A global classic so irrepressibly dull that I couldn't make it halfway through, which rarely happens. Company Credits. The names, on the other hand, I should probably warn you about. Within that is a more mundane framing story, which brings key characters to the Jia household and helps to locate it geographically and socially. Several maids are also key characters: Bao-Yu's Aroma and Skybright, whose tragic end is one of the emotional climaxes of the novel, Grandmother Jia's loyal Faithful, and Xi-feng's kindly Patience, who smoothes some of her mistress' edges. Along with plot elements such as a "mirror protagonist", this also reflects an awareness of the creative process itself. There is also a considerable amount of embedded poetry, which is translated into forms which flow naturally in English. Photos Add Image. Other unscientific but believably regarded occurrences include people getting cursed to madness through black magic and complex, hocus pocus medicines. Read more But the winner refutes him with: No real Bo-tree the body is, The mind no mirror-bright. Shelves: mandarin-chinese , translated , pure-power-of-gr , antidote-translated , person-of-translated , ever-on , reviewed , 1-read-on-hand , antidote-think-twice-all , 4-star. The plot mostly-kinda-sorta focuses on Jia Bao-Yu, the male heir of the family, who lives a primarily carefree life causing troubles for his family and his servants, and who also happens to be the incarnation of a heavenly stone, a fact that he is unaware of.

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Forbidden Colours. I wonder, though, if they actually finished reading it since reviews don't seem very enlightening, more impressionistic. I'm judging only a single portion of a much larger work, to be fair, but I think I gave The Story of the Stone a fair shake and I've decided that it isn't worth my time to continue with it. She is learned but unassuming and always a voice of commonsense, reason, and compassion; her perspective provides the reader a stable point of return throughout the novel. He lectured his subjects on the need to read it five times, while his secretary, Hu Qiaomu, claimed that the Great Helmsman himself had read it 25 times. Along with plot elements such as a "mirror protagonist", this also reflects an awareness of the creative process itself. Bao-yu is born with the jade stone in his mouth, and we start following him from adolescence. In pages we know to look for the relations of love and sexuality, of transcendence, of social roles and structures, of Family dynamics, of fate and karma, of the blurred lines of myth, fiction, and reality, of literature, of the notion of space, of the specific relations of very distinct characters, and the riddle of plot points which we're to see unfold over the next pages. Study Bible Nebuchadnezzar's Golden Image 1 King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. These could have been handled with copious footnoting, but Hawkes and Minford instead opted to add material and sometimes expand dialogue so as to provide any necessary context within the text itself. It's a great book for getting a feeling of what aristocratic life consisted of in China during the Qing dynasty, and it certainly has many features that distinguish it from similar western fare likewise concerning the aristocracy, but unfortunately these intriguing facets of the book serve no larger narrative purpose, nor do they aid in an exploration of the characters. The Story of the Stone reveals a huge amount about everyday aristocratic but also commoner life in Qing China, about food and drink, ceremonies, family structures, the gradations of status, illness and medicine, astrology, religion, the legal system, and so forth. There is a constant feeling of coming into something complicated in medias res and trying to get a sense of it without clear signposts. Still, if you're up for something a little out of the ordinary, something epic and character- driven that will require a little bit of mental muscle stretching and an appreciation for fine prose and poetry like in 'The Tale of Genji,' the characters here really have a thing for communication via improvised allegorical poetry , you should consider picking this volume up. Another central character is Bao-yu's cousin's wife, the brash Xi-feng, who through sheer competence — her ability to browbeat the domestic staff and her skill in keeping her grandmother-in-law happy — has ended up managing the entire household. Edit Details Country: Taiwan. Plot Keywords. There is controversy over the last 40 chapters, since they disagree in places with the foreshadowings and prophecies in the first 80, and some scholars claim they are a complete forgery. Having read an abridged version of the Three Kingdoms, I've made a goal to read the others. It starts with the story of goddess Nu-wa repairing the heavens with various stones, and there is one that is left unused and so it tossed down to earth. Other unscientific but believably regarded occurrences include people getting cursed to madness through black magic and complex, hocus pocus medicines. Bao-yu is distraught when he learns of Qin-shi's death. Cao Xueqin makes a similar point but instead by intuitively focusing on mundane matters and the forgotten sidelined people in a large aristocratic structure. Illnesses, loaning money, deaths, construction projects, birthdays, and whatever else is going on in their lives makes up the majority of the activity in this book. Main lesson: be content with ambiguity. The names, on the other hand, I should probably warn you about. Much of what I've said may just reflect the fact that I have only read a small part of a larger whole. People who have followed my updates on this book may remember a garden. I hesitate to give it too strong a recommendation given that I've still got four volumes left to go, but, this book is considered a classic for a reason, right? Xi-feng is capable of affection and even love, but she is not a good woman to cross, capable of murderous jealousy where her husband is involved. The original work is, like much Chinese literature, littered with references to history and literature. There is also a considerable amount of embedded poetry, which is translated into forms which flow naturally in English. Hawkes and Minford thankfully provide a couple of family trees to help the reader follow these connections, as well as a character list that covers all the different names of the characters. However, having read only a small part of the whole work at this point, I don't really feel qualified to judge it or even say much about its artistic qualities at all. This Penguin edition provides family trees in the appendix and I am so grateful. You shouldn't, either. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was three score cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. The Hawkes translation Penguin includes an excellent introduction to the history of the text, and brief family trees of three familes in the back. https://files8.webydo.com/9582962/UploadedFiles/FDF48333-EA16-5EA1-0991-B4CACDB23504.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9583198/UploadedFiles/DE95CB61-E39A-B583-52BC-544C4402C9BD.pdf https://cdn.starwebserver.se/shops/mimmilundqvistmm/files/the-official-guide-to-the-biomedical-admissions-test-761.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9583312/UploadedFiles/3A50BFA7-0FAD-106A-9DEC-8A3B7C81B335.pdf https://cdn.starwebserver.se/shops/robertperssonvj/files/leading-public-sector-innovation-co-creating-for-a-better-society-879.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9584015/UploadedFiles/F381200A-C557-16B8-D53E-740E0607B000.pdf