A Dream of Red Mansions was written in the latter half of the 18th century. It is not only a great Chinese novel but also a gem of world literature. The author is Cao Xueqin (1715-1763), also known as Cao zhan. He was born into a noble and powerful family, which was reduced from extreme prosperity to poverty. The life of luxury in his boyhood acquainted him with the ways of noble families and the ruling classes, while poverty in his old age enabled him to observe life more clearly and penetratingly. Based on his own understanding of life and with his progressive ideas, serious attitude and high craftsmanship, he was able to create A Dream of Red Mansion, a book regarded as the pinnacle of the Chinese classical novel. Of its 120 chapters, the first 80 were written by Cao Xueqin, while the last 40 chapters were thought to have been written by another writer, Gao E. Though certain difference can be discerned in Gao E's sequel, in respect to ideological content and artistic achievement, it still basically follows Cao's original plan and makes the novel and integral whole.
A Dream of Red Mansions describes the life and declining fortunes of a large feudal family. At the heart of the novel is a tragic love story between Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. The author, instead of telling the love story superficially, tries to tap the social origins of the tragedy through probing deeply into the characters' minds and the complicated relationship among them, hence exposing the hypocrisy and cruelty of feudalism and the decadence of the ruling class. The novel goes far beyond the tragic love story, to depict a broad swath of society through describing a series of complicated conflicts and struggles, and ultimately predicting the domed fate of feudal society as a whole. The novel criticizes feudalism, its corrupted politics, marriage system and ethical relationships and passionately denounces its cruelty and inhumanity. In China, A Dream of Red Mansions is praised as an encyclopedia for analyzing feudal society.
A Dream of Red Mansions portrays a galaxy of unforgettable characters, including Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Wang Xifeng, Yuanyang, Qingwen, Jia Zheng, Jia She, Jia Zhen and Jia Lian. Jia Baoyu is a rebel of feudal noble class. His rebellion character is fully expressed in his attitude of indifference to the ways of aristocratic life. He holds in contempt the tiresome men and greatly sympathizes with the women, oppressed and trampled by the feudal system, demonstrating his distinct democratic thoughts. Lin Daiyu is also a rebellious figure of the novel, she represents, to a certain degree, women's unfortunate fate in feudal society, their resistance to its oppression and passionate pursuit for true love. But her weakness is in her restrained and fragile character, typical of noble girls. Baochai is portrayed as a conventional woman of feudal society, and she is also a tragic figure. The author also portrays a large number of servant girls such as Qingwen and Yuanyang, who are kind, pure and brave.
A Dream of Red Mansions made great artistic achievements. For instance, the novel provides a large number of detailed descriptions of everyday lives. Cao Xueqin attained flawlessness in language. A Dream of Red Mansions reflected high aesthetic quality in many aspects including poetry, drama, art, architecture, and gardens.
There is nothing in western literature that is quite like Dream of the Red Chamber. Once you get over the shock of reading the mid-18th century vernacular, the depth and charm of this romantic epic is one of the most compelling reasons to read it in the original Chinese. This is why we are proud to present the world's only word-by-word annotated copy of Dream of the Red Chamber.
To help you understand this novel, we have annotated the entire first chapter of the book with contextual mouseover popups. Simply hover your cursor over any word in the text for an instant popup containing a definition of the word in question along with a pronunciation guide and explanation of any hidden meanings. In this installment, which covers the first paragraph of the book, read on as author Cao Xueqin introduces his novel as a work of fiction in which the astute reader will find eternal truths. He admonishes us to pay close attention to the text and explicitly tells us it is laced with double meanings. We get our first reference to life itself as a dream, and hear of two members of the Zhen and Jia dynasties, the two families in the saga whose surnames are homophones for truth and falsehood itself.
Dream of the Red Chamber is tragic and funny and brilliant all in turn. So throw out your dictionary, grab a cup of coffee and read on as we bring you this tale of philosophy, romance and pathos.
Dream of the Red Chamber, or The Story of the Stone, is the greatest masterpiece of Chinese classical novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties with the most profound influence on later generations. The work is comprised of 120 chapters, the first 80 of which were written by Tsao Hsueh-chin and the remaining 40 by Kao Hgo.
Tsao Hsueh-chin, the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, lived between 1715 and 1763. His ancestral family once held great power. As such, he led a wealthy noble life in Nanjing as a child. When he was 13 or 14, the family was declining and moved to Beijing, where life took a turn for the worse. In his later years, he even led a poor life. Drawing on his own experience, Tsao Hsueh-chin put all his life experiences, poeticized feelings, exploratory spirit and creativity into the greatest work of all time - Dream of the Red Chamber. Drawing its materials from real life, the novel is full of the author’s personal feelings filled with blood and tears.
Dream of the Red Chamber is a novel with great cultural richness. It depicts a multi-layered yet inter-fusing tragic human world through the eye of a talentless stone the Goddess used for sky mending. Jia Baoyu, the incarnation of the stone, witnessed the tragic lives of “the Twelve Beauties of Nanjing”, experienced the great changes from flourishing to decline of a noble family and thus gained unique perception of life and the mortal world. Revolving around Jia Baoyu and focusing on the tragic love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai against the backdrop of the Great View Garden, the novel portrays a tragedy in which love, youth and life are ruined as well as exposes and profoundly reflects the root of the tragedy – the feudal system and culture.
The great literature success of Dream of the Red Chamber is remarkably reflected by the creation of characters with distinctive personality and profound social culture, mirroring people in real life. The success also lies in the breakthrough and innovation of traditional writing styles, completely breaking the mode of story-telling popular novels and greatly enriching the narrative art of novels, thus causing a far-reaching impact on the development of Chinese novels.
The influence of Dream of the Red Chamber in the history of Chinese literature is so profound that it has spawned a large batch of works after its style. At the same time, numerous plays and dramas based on the novel have been released. In recent years, movies and TV series have brought the great work to tens of thousands of households, sweeping the whole Chinese-speaking world.
The exceptionally superb creation of artistic characters and the richness of the thoughts in the novel of Dream of the Red Chamber have generated great interest in its reviews and research, forming a special subject dedicated solely to the research of the novel – Redology (the study on the novel Dream of the Red Chamber).
Translations
The Story of the Stone (first eighty chapters by David Hawkes and last forty by John Minford), Penguin Classics or Bloomington: Indiana University Press, five volumes, 1973–1980. ISBN 0-14-044293-6, ISBN 0-14-044326-6, ISBN 0-14-044370-3; ISBN 0-14-044371-1, ISBN 0-14-044372-X.
The Dream of the Red Chamber (David Hawkes), New York: Penguin Group 1996. ISBN 0146001761.
A Dream of Red Mansions (Gladys Yang and Yang Hsien-yi) Beijing: Foreign Language Press, three volumes, 1978–1980.
Dream of the Red Chamber (Wang Chi-Chen), abridged, largely translated in 1929, then augmented for publication in 1958. ISBN 0385093799.
Hung Lou Meng (H. Bencraft Joly), from the Gutenberg Project, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1892–1893, paper published edition is also available. Wildside Press, ISBN 0809592681; and Hard Press, November 3, 2006, ISBN 1406940798.
Red Chamber Dream (Dr. B.S. Bonsall), Unpublished typescript. Available on the web.
The Dream of the Red Chamber (Florence and Isabel McHugh), abridged, which follows the German translation of Franz Kuhn. 1958, ISBN 0837181135.
Dream of the Red Chamber, or The Story of the Stone, is the greatest masterpiece of Chinese classical novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties with the most profound influence on later generations. The work is comprised of 120 chapters, the first 80 of which were written by Tsao Hsueh-chin and the remaining 40 by Kao Hgo.
Tsao Hsueh-chin, the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, lived between 1715 and 1763. His ancestral family once held great power. As such, he led a wealthy noble life in Nanjing as a child. When he was 13 or 14, the family was declining and moved to Beijing, where life took a turn for the worse. In his later years, he even led a poor life. Drawing on his own experience, Tsao Hsueh-chin put all his life experiences, poeticized feelings, exploratory spirit and creativity into the greatest work of all time - Dream of the Red Chamber. Drawing its materials from real life, the novel is full of the author’s personal feelings filled with blood and tears.
Dream of the Red Chamber is a novel with great cultural richness. It depicts a multi-layered yet inter-fusing tragic human world through the eye of a talentless stone the Goddess used for sky mending. Jia Baoyu, the incarnation of the stone, witnessed the tragic lives of “the Twelve Beauties of Nanjing”, experienced the great changes from flourishing to decline of a noble family and thus gained unique perception of life and the mortal world. Revolving around Jia Baoyu and focusing on the tragic love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai against the backdrop of the Great View Garden, the novel portrays a tragedy in which love, youth and life are ruined as well as exposes and profoundly reflects the root of the tragedy – the feudal system and culture.
The great literature success of Dream of the Red Chamber is remarkably reflected by the creation of characters with distinctive personality and profound social culture, mirroring people in real life. The success also lies in the breakthrough and innovation of traditional writing styles, completely breaking the mode of story-telling popular novels and greatly enriching the narrative art of novels, thus causing a far-reaching impact on the development of Chinese novels.
The influence of Dream of the Red Chamber in the history of Chinese literature is so profound that it has spawned a large batch of works after its style. At the same time, numerous plays and dramas based on the novel have been released. In recent years, movies and TV series have brought the great work to tens of thousands of households, sweeping the whole Chinese-speaking world.
The exceptionally superb creation of artistic characters and the richness of the thoughts in the novel of Dream of the Red Chamber have generated great interest in its reviews and research, forming a special subject dedicated solely to the research of the novel – Redology (the study on the novel Dream of the Red Chamber).
Translations
The Story of the Stone (first eighty chapters by David Hawkes and last forty by John Minford), Penguin Classics or Bloomington: Indiana University Press, five volumes, 1973–1980. ISBN 0-14-044293-6, ISBN 0-14-044326-6, ISBN 0-14-044370-3; ISBN 0-14-044371-1, ISBN 0-14-044372-X.
The Dream of the Red Chamber (David Hawkes), New York: Penguin Group 1996. ISBN 0146001761.
A Dream of Red Mansions (Gladys Yang and Yang Hsien-yi) Beijing: Foreign Language Press, three volumes, 1978–1980.
Dream of the Red Chamber (Wang Chi-Chen), abridged, largely translated in 1929, then augmented for publication in 1958. ISBN 0385093799.
Hung Lou Meng (H. Bencraft Joly), from the Gutenberg Project, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1892–1893, paper published edition is also available. Wildside Press, ISBN 0809592681; and Hard Press, November 3, 2006, ISBN 1406940798.
Red Chamber Dream (Dr. B.S. Bonsall), Unpublished typescript. Available on the web.
The Dream of the Red Chamber (Florence and Isabel McHugh), abridged, which follows the German translation of Franz Kuhn. 1958, ISBN 0837181135.
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