The Drunken Man's Talk- Tales from Medieval China

The Drunken Man's Talk                           Tales from Medieval China

COMPILED BY LUO YE
TRANSLATED BY ALISTER D. INGLIS

•      University of Washington Press
•      paperback not available
•     $50.00S HARDCOVER (9780295994734) ADD TO CART

•     PUBLISHED: July 2015
•     SUBJECT LISTING: Asian Studies, Literature
•     BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: 238 pp., 6 x 9 in.
•     CONTENTS

This collection of short stories, anecdotes, and poems was likely compiled during the 13th century. Tales of romantic love-including courtship, marriage, and illicit affairs-unify the collection and make it an essential primary source for literary and social history, since official Chinese history sources did not usually discuss family conflict or sexual matters.

This volume, the first complete translation of The Drunken Man's Talk (Xinbian zuiweng tanlu) in any language, includes an introduction that explores the literary significance of the work as well as annotations explaining the symbolism and allusions found in the stories.

ALISTER D. INGLIS is Freeman Associate Professor of Chinese languages and literature at Simmons College. He is the author of Hong Mai's Record of the Listener and Its Song Dynasty Context.

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"These stories and anecdotes provide valuable information about marriage and sexuality in Song/Yuan society. The translator has done a remarkable job in rendering the text into readable English."
-James M. Hargett, translator of Treatises of the Supervisor and Guardian of the Cinnamon Sea

"An important contribution to the field. There are very few translations of biji xiaoshuo [anecdotal fiction] from the Tang, Song, and Yuan periods.The Drunken Man's Talk stands out because it offers a complete translation of a single collection, which offers insights into the compiler's interests and agendas, in particular, his selection, presentation, and arrangement of stories."
-Manling Luo, author of Literari Storytelling in Late Medieval China