Pu Songling
Pu Songling (Chinese: 蒲松齡, 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty, best known as the author of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai zhiyi).[1]
Pu Songling | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 5 June 1640 Zibo, Shandong, Ming China |
| Died | 25 February 1715 (aged 74) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | Classical Chinese |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Period | Qing dynasty |
| Subject | Chinese literature |
| Notable works | Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai zhiyi) |
| Pu Songling | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 蒲松齡 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 蒲松龄 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Biography
Pu was born into a poor merchant family from Zichuan (淄川, in Zibo, Shandong). At the age of 18, he received the Xiucai degree in the Imperial examination. It was not until he was 71 that he was awarded the Gongsheng ("tribute student") degree for his achievement in literature rather than for passing the Imperial exam.
He spent most of his life working as a private tutor, collecting stories that were later published in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio in 1740. Some critics attribute the Vernacular Chinese novel Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan ("Marriage Destinies to Awaken the World") to him.
Translations of his work
- Strange Tales from Liaozhai, 6 volumes (tr. Sidney L. Sondergard). Jain Pub Co., 2008-2014. ISBN 978-0-89581-001-4.
- Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (tr. John Minford). London: Penguin, 2006. 562 pages. ISBN 0-14-044740-7.
- Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio (Zhang Qingnian, Zhang Ciyun and Yang Yi). Beijing: People's China Publishing, 1997. ISBN 7-80065-599-7.
- Strange Tales from Make-do Studio (Denis C. & Victor H. Mair). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1989.
- Strange Tales of Liaozhai (Lu Yunzhong, Chen Tifang, Yang Liyi, and Yang Zhihong). Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 1982.
- Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures (George Soulié). London: Constable, 1913.
- Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (tr. Herbert A. Giles). London: T. De La Rue, 1880.[2] ISBN 1-4212-4855-7.
In popular culture
In The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang (2019), Jackie Chan portrays Pu Songling
References
- Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, Pu Sung-ling
- Death of Woman Wang 1978, Johnathon D Spence
Further reading
- Chun-shu, Chang, and Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang (1998) Redefining History: Ghosts, Spirits, and Human Society in P'u Sung-ling's World, 1640–1715. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-10822-0
- Judith T. Zeitlin (1993). Historian of the Strange : Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, xii, 332p. ISBN 0-8047-2085-1.
- Owen, Stephen, "Pu Song-ling (1640–1715), Liao-zhai's Record of Wonders," in Stephen Owen, ed. An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. p. 1103-1126 (Archive).
- Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.
Notes
- Judith T. Zeitlin, Historian of the strange: Pu Songling and the Chinese classical tale (Stanford University Press, 1993).
- Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. pp. 126.
External links
- Works by Pu Songling at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
