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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Cao Xueqin
Legal name: 曹雪芹
Other names: Cao Zhan (given)
Ts'ao Chan
Ts'ao Hsueh-ch'in (Wade–Giles)
Birthdate: 1715 - 1724
Date of death: 1763 - 1764
Gender: male
Nationality: China
Birthplace: Jiangning, Nanjing, China
Place of death: Beijing, China
Places of residence: Beijing, China (death)
China
Nanjing, China
Jiangning, China (birth)
Occupations: painter
poet
novelist

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Story of the Stone, Red Chamber - Read along, Part II in Ancient China (February 2016)

Story of the Stone, Red Chamber - Read along in Ancient China (October 2011)

Reviews

The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red… by Cao Xuequin

In the fourth volume of The Story of the Stone, tragic events long foreshadowed come to pass. The first half of [b:The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4: The Debt of Tears|139820|The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4 The Debt of Tears|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172113533l/139820._SY75_.jpg|49685167] is somewhat lighter, featuring Bao-yu's attempts to keep his father happy and Xue Pan's latest way to shame the family. In a drunken fit of pique, he murders a man at a bar in front of many witnesses then, stupidly, confesses to it. His family have to make strenuous efforts at bribery to get the charge reduced from murder to accidental death, as otherwise he would be exiled or get the death penalty. That man is the worst. There is also some fascinating discussion of the Qin as Dai-yu takes it up again. I've only come across this instrument before while watching The Untamed, so it was lovely to learn something about it in a historical rather than xianxia context. The observations and plans of the maids were also enjoyable and insightful as ever.

The second half of the book becomes exceedingly tragic. Bao-yu loses his magic jade, sending him into a withdrawn and unstable state. His relatives decide that marriage will bring him out of it and hatch an astonishingly cruel plot. They know he loves Dai-yu, who is ailing, so tell him that he will be marrying her. In fact, Bao-yu will be married to Bao-chai. (Both are his first cousins, incidentally.) When Dai-yu hears of this, she goes into rapid decline and perishes without even saying goodbye to Bao-yu or confessing her love. Bao-yu, meanwhile, only learns after the wedding has taken place that his expected bride is dead and he is actually married to someone different. This sequence of events is moving and extraordinarily compelling.

As ever in this long novel, there is a striking balance between practical matters of daily life (meals, clothing, medicine, etc) and existential considerations (fortunes foretold, prophetic dreams, previous lives, etc). The 1985 edition I borrowed from the library also contains a charming account in the preface of the translator searching for and seemingly finding the house where the novel's events take place. I wonder at what further sadness the fifth and final volume will bring. [b:The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4: The Debt of Tears|139820|The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4 The Debt of Tears|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172113533l/139820._SY75_.jpg|49685167] continues to be fast-paced and highly readable, a fascinating domestic saga filled with psychological insight and historical details.… (more)

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annarchism | 6 other reviews | Aug 4, 2024 |

The Story of the Stone: a Chinese Novel : Vol 5,… by Xueqin Cao

[b:The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 5: The Dreamer Wakes|139826|The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 5 The Dreamer Wakes|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348045613l/139826._SY75_.jpg|49685129] is the fifth and final volume of the epic Story of the Stone. In the previous volume, [b:The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4: The Debt of Tears|139820|The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4 The Debt of Tears|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172113533l/139820._SY75_.jpg|49685167] tragedy and disaster that had loomed upon the horizon began to unfold. In this volume, terrible events reach a long-foretold crescendo. The Jia family is beset by problems that compound each other. Falling out of political favour worsens the already fragile financial situation, damaging the health of many family members. Plans and decisions made in previous volumes produce unintended consequences in this one. It’s fascinating how gradual yet inexorable the shift in tone has been. While the second volume is full of joyful socialising and poetry composition, the fifth is replete with disaster, decline, and death. The one attempt at party games falls flat. Yet the five volumes don't compose an unequivocally downward narrative by any means. By the end, the Jia family remains, albeit diminished, with some hopes for recovery.

The progress of events is as compelling and carefully observed in this volume as the others, despite discussion in the preface about whether the book is complete. It certainly read as complete to me, which at least suggests excellent editing and translation work. The range of family reactions to disaster is striking to observe: denial, self-pity, rage, withdrawal, and hard work to try and improve things, among others. The ostensible head of the family Jia Zheng has not been aware of what state his household is in and is shocked when he realises:

"But both households must now look to me for their daily sustenance, and how can I hope to support them all? This latest revelation of Lian’s is another grievous blow; not only have we no reserves, we are seriously in debt. We have evidently been living under false pretences for years! And I have only my own stupidity to blame! How can I have been so blind? If only my eldest son were still alive! In Zhu I might at least have had some support. But Bao-yu, for all he is my son, and now a grown man, can offer my no help whatsoever."

I don’t consider Bao-yu’s uselessness in the face of financial problems to be a spoiler, as his characterisation throughout the books is very consistent: a dreamy, artistic, emotional, and wholly impractical young man. He cannot be relied upon to do his homework, let alone manage a household. By comparison, Grandmother Jia (the actual head of the family) reacts in a much more measured and pragmatic way to the prospect of household bankruptcy. However she is elderly and cannot turn things around herself. Her death while the family is still in turmoil and the theft of her belongings afterwards are particularly shocking moments of pathos. She was a stable and comforting figure throughout the previous four books, a matriarch overseeing her family. Xi-feng’s death is also shocking and includes the classic tradition of coughing up blood. Her illness becomes terminal due to the stress and overwork of attempting to manage the affairs of a family falling apart.

Given the tragedies of this concluding volume, it isn’t surprising that the supernatural and theological has a strong narrative presence in relation to illness, mourning, attempts to forecast the future, haunted places, and religious vocations. Different characters evince various levels of scepticism and conviction around these matters, creating a very interesting tension for the reader. Bao-yu, as we know from prior volumes, has always had one foot in the spiritual world, while many of his relatives are doubtful of fortune telling. Near the end, Bao-yu’s prophecy from the first volume comes to pass and he disappears, returning to the fairy world of his dream. On the other hand, this final volume has fewer material details as the sense of abundance and luxury is gone.

The whole five-volume work is a remarkable and fascinating insight into 18th century life in a wealthy Chinese family, as well as an involving melodrama peopled with memorable characters. The inclusion of so many perspectives within the sprawling household, from kitchen maids to young masters to put-upon wives to gardeners, creates a wonderfully detailed sense of how things work or fall apart. The tone oscillates between joy and sadness beautifully. The reader both gets a feeling of interdependent community and keen psychological insight into individuals. I really enjoyed spending five books with the Jia family and their extended family, servants, friends, and hangers-on. As well as being interesting from a historical perspective, The Story of the Stone is a real page-turner. John Minford’s translation is highly readable and the plot full of constant incident. I highly recommend this reading experience to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or epic family sagas.… (more)

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annarchism | 8 other reviews | Aug 4, 2024 |

The Story of the Stone: a Chinese Novel: Vol 3, The… by Xueqin Cao

I found [b:The Crab-Flower Club|981885|The Crab-Flower Club (The Story of the Stone, #2)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553404177l/981885._SY75_.jpg|49684985] a little slow in comparison with the first volume of [b:The Story of the Stone|139874|The Story of the Stone (The Story of the Stone, #1)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551975644l/139874._SY75_.jpg|17619004]. Volume 3, [b:The Warning Voice|1404411|The Warning Voice (The Story of the Stone, #3)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552246511l/1404411._SY75_.jpg|49685095], is more eventful and compelling. The profusion of domestic incidents allow Cao Xueqin to demonstrate his wonderfully keen eye for personalities and how they clash. There is something curiously timeless about a household struggling to get along as their financial situation deteriorates. The Jia family's expenses exceed their income and this is starting to cause problems. Several younger female characters step up to household management roles and attempt cost-saving measures. However these are always contested and difficult to impose, as no-one wants to sacrifice their comforts or spheres of influence. The complex web of relationships between the extended family and their servants is fascinating to observe. Bao-yu doesn't have a particularly strong presence in this volume, which largely follows the women who run the household both on the senior management and shop floor levels, as it were. Throughout the novel so far the narrative has been equally interested in the aristocratic Jia family and their servants.

There are fewer big celebrations in [b:The Warning Voice|1404411|The Warning Voice (The Story of the Stone, #3)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552246511l/1404411._SY75_.jpg|49685095] than [b:The Crab-Flower Club|981885|The Crab-Flower Club (The Story of the Stone, #2)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553404177l/981885._SY75_.jpg|49684985], firstly because of a family bereavement that puts everyone in mourning for a long period and secondly due to money. The family resort repeatedly to pawning treasures in order to pay for parties, which is clearly not sustainable. The servants are the ones who actually do the pawning, so are keenly aware of what's going on. Amid these financial problems and the domestic turbulence they cause, one plot thread really stands out. Xi-feng, a woman whose strength of character you have to admire while also being terrified of her, discovers that her husband has secretly married a second wife when he should have been in mourning. Her actions upon discovering this are impressively machiavellian, albeit merciless towards the unfortunate second wife. Events proceed in a positively operatic fashion, culminating in a tragic denouement.

Indeed, all the marriages that happen in this volume turn out very badly. I don't think I've spotted a good husband yet in [b:The Story of the Stone|139874|The Story of the Stone (The Story of the Stone, #1)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551975644l/139874._SY75_.jpg|17619004]. They are all feckless gamblers, cruel abusers, paranoid obsessives, or some combination of the three. Bao-yu is accused of being effeminate and spending all his time with maids, but his options for male companionship are pretty terrible. By contrast, his female cousins and maids are witty, intelligent, and artistic.

There is an ominous sense of things starting to go downhill for the Jia family at this halfway point of this five volume novel. While the second volume is full of voluptuous material luxury and sumptuous parties, here tragedy, instability, and the need to control expenditure creep in. Now that I'm pretty familiar with the huge cast of characters, I find [b:The Story of the Stone|139874|The Story of the Stone (The Story of the Stone, #1)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551975644l/139874._SY75_.jpg|17619004] highly readable as well as fascinating. It is an extraordinarily intricate family drama, set in a historical milieu evoked in exquisitely vivid detail. I do not wonder at it remaining a classic for centuries. Finally, the translator must be commended both for the fluid style and reconciliation of the contradictions between multiple surviving manuscripts, a process carefully described in the appendices.… (more)

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annarchism | 7 other reviews | Aug 4, 2024 |

The Story of the Stone (also known as The Dream of… by Cao Xueqin

The second volume of 'The Story of the Stone' is, as the translation acknowledges in the preface, rather less exciting than the first. Whereas [b:The Golden Days|22070429|The Golden Days (The Story of the Stone #1)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1399865495l/22070429._SY75_.jpg|17619004] involved supernatural happenings and major household upheaval, [b:The Crab-Flower Club|981885|The Crab-Flower Club (The Story of the Stone, #2)|Cao Xueqin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553404177l/981885._SY75_.jpg|49684985] largely chronicles parties, poetry contests, minor illnesses, and brief fallings-out. Bao-yu is perhaps less of the focus here and more attention is paid to the maids. There are a few significant incidents, notably two suicides of unfortunate young women, new year celebrations, and Bao-yu being severely beaten by his father. I was most taken with the sequence in which Lady Jia's son tries to take her favourite maid Faithful as a concubine. Despite this technically being a promotion, Faithful unequivocally refuses. This situation is a fascinating insight into the power dynamics of the household; ultimately Faithful remains Lady Jia's maid.

As with the first volume, I enjoyed the witty dialogue and details of the household routine. The material descriptions of fabrics, food, and furnishings are again copious and vivid, which sometimes becomes a little overwhelming. Nonetheless I found the translation compelling and readable. The preface also included thought-provoking comments from the translator on the challenges this novel poses:

Admittedly the decision to draw a line between what may and what may not be amended is a somewhat arbitrary one, and to a textual critic the subjective arguments and rule-of-thumb methods of the translator-editor may seem arrogant and unscientific. But a translator has divided loyalties. He has a duty to his author, a duty to his reader, and a duty to the text. The three are by no means identical and are often hard to reconcile.

Although I didn't find the second volume as memorable as the first, I definitely intend to continue with the novel. I hope to see more development of the main characters in the next volume.… (more)

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annarchism | 9 other reviews | Aug 4, 2024 |

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