Dream of the Red Chamber, The Red Chamber Dreams or A Dream of Red Mansions (Traditional Chinese: 紅樓夢; Simplified Chinese: 红楼梦; pinyin: Hónglóu mèng), also known as The Story of the Stone (Traditional Chinese: 石頭記; Simplified Chinese: 石头记; pinyin: Shítóu jì) is one of the masterpieces of Chinese fiction. It was composed sometime in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. The novel's authorship is attributed to Cáo Xuěqín (Cao Zhan).
The novel is usually grouped with three other pre-modern Chinese works of fiction, collectively known as the Four Great Classical Novels. Of these, Dream of the Red Chamber is often acknowledged to be the zenith of Chinese classical fiction by scholars.
Plot summary
A scene from the story, painted by Xu Bao (born 1810).
Other scenes.The novel is believed to be semi-autobiographical, mirroring the fortunes of Cao Xueqin's own family. As the author details in the first chapter, it was intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants. However, the time mark of the story itself is blurred, with characters' costume style shifting between various dynasties, and the reference of home location keeps changing.
The novel itself is a detailed, episodic record of the lives of the extended Jia Clan, made up of two branches, the Ning-guo and Rong-guo Houses, which occupies two large adjacent family compounds in the capital. Their ancestors were made Dukes, and at the novel's start the two houses were still one of the most illustrious families in the capital. Originally extremely wealthy and influential, with a female member made an Imperial Concubine, the Clan eventually fell into disfavour with the Emperor, and had their mansions raided and confiscated. The novel is a charting of the Jias' fall from the height of their prestige (which is described in great naturalistic detail), centering on some 30 main characters and over 400 minor ones.
The story is prefaced with supernatural Taoist and Buddhist overtones. A sentient Stone, abandoned by the Goddess Nüwa when she mended the heavens aeons ago, enters the mortal realm after begging a Taoist priest and Buddhist monk to bring it to see the world.
The main character, Jia Baoyu, is the adolescent heir of the family, apparently the reincarnation of the Stone (the most reliable Jiaxu manuscript however has the Stone and Jia Baoyu as two separate, though related, entities). In that previous life he had a relationship with a flower, who is incarnated now as Baoyu's sickly cousin, the emotional Lin Daiyu. However, he is predestined in this life, despite his love for Daiyu, to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai. This love triangle against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes forms the most well-known plot line among the others in the novel.
The novel is remarkable not only in its huge cast of characters — over 400 in all, most of whom are female — and its psychological scope, but also in its precise and detailed observations of the life and social structures that are typical in the 18th-century China.
No comments:
Post a Comment