My wife (who is from PR China) and I were talking about books the other day, and she says there are three very famous and popular books from China that I ought to read. The trouble is, for two of them she only knows their names in Chinese, not in English. Can anyone help us figure out these titles? One book is about three countries at war. The second book, she believes the name translates into something like “Red Chamber”, but she’s not sure. For the record, the third book she mentioned is “Journey to the West” (which I’ve heard of before, but never read).
Although this is probably an IMHO question, but would anyone know which are the best English-language translations of these books?
The first one is easy. “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. Your chances of finding it is pretty slim. I know because I have been looking for it myself. Also it is a very long book. I don’t remember how many, but I seem to recall it being 10+ volumes.
The second one I do believe is called “The Dream of the Red Chamber”
The last one you might have better luck looking for it under “Pilgrimage to the West”.
I would recommend going to a local university that has an Asian Studies Dept.
Also I would recommend “The Water Margin” which is also considered a classic. It was translated by Pearl Buck, so maybe you might have some chance of finding it.
Cao Xueqin’s The Dream of the Red Chamber is (or was–I’m not sure it’s still in print) available from Penguin in translation, under the title The Story of the Stone. I haven’t read it but my wife has & highly recommends it. --N
Cao Xueqin’s The Dream of the Red Chamber is (or was–I’m not sure it’s still in print) available from Penguin in translation, under the title The Story of the Stone. I haven’t read it but my wife has & highly recommends it. --N
Check out this URL:
http://www.china-on-site.com/literatu/
It’s a summary of these books and several others.
The most recent and probably best reads in English have been published by the Foreign Language Press – Beijing. None of the books you mention have a really first rate translation, but the Foreign Language Press isn’t too bad.
If you live in a big city with Chinese populations there should be the New China Bookstore “xinhua shudian”, which probably has all of these books. East-wind Bookstore in San Fran should have it as well. Otherwise, any University with Asian Studies or Chinese Literature (in English) courses may have these.
They call it simply “Three Kingdoms” and it’s widely called “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” in English. Three volumes, 1698 pages and costs less than $8 here in China.
Another one is the Golden Lotus “Jin Ping Mei”, which basically described life in a brothel a couple hundred years ago. The original version published by Harvard or Yale had all the racy bits translated into latin. The most recent translation isn’t a great read in English.
The Water Margin is pretty good. I think Foreign Language Press calls it “All Men Are Brothers”.
These are all epics and started out in the oral tradition. all of 'em are kinda interesting, at least for the first couple hundred pages, then at least for me they kind of blend together and the translation makes it not as enjoyable as it could be. Modern Chinese literature from the first opening in the early 1900’s really requires a lot of historical and cultural background to appreciate, and the translations I’ve seen all stink. I haven’t read anything written in the last 20 years and translated to English that was really memorable here in China.
I’d also recommend the Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. It was very engaging.