Quelling the demons' revolt : a novel from Ming China / attributed to Luo Guanzhong ; translated by Patrick Hanan ; introduction by Ellen B. Widmer and David Der-wei Wang.

Author
Luo, Guanzhong, approximately 1330-approximately 1400 [Browse]
Uniform title
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • New York : Columbia University Press, [2017]
  • © 2017
Description
x, 215 pages ; 22 cm.

Availability

Available Online

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
East Asian Library - Western Languages PL2690 .P513 2017 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Translator
    Writer of introduction
    Library of Congress genre(s)
    Series
    Translations from the Asian classics [More in this series]
    Summary note
    In this Ming-era novel, historical narrative, raucous humor, and the supernatural are interwoven to tell the tale of an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Song dynasty. A poor young girl meets an old woman who gives her a magic book that allows her to create rice and money. Her father, terrified that his daughter's demonic nature might be discovered, marries her off. Forced to flee, she and others with supernatural abilities find themselves in the midst of a grotesque version of a historical uprising, in which facts are intermingled with slapstick humor and wild fictions. Attributed to the writer Luo Guanzhong, Quelling the Demons' Revolt is centered on the events of the rebellion led by Wang Ze in 1047-48. But it is a distorted, humorous version, in which Wang Ze's lieutenants show up as a comical peddler and a mysterious Daoist priest and a celebrated warrior appears despite having died many years earlier. Rather than fantastic adventures and supernatural marvels, the author points to human vanities and fixations as well as social injustice, warning of the vulnerability of any pursuit of order in a world plagued by demonic forces as well as mundane corruption.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-215).
    Language note
    Translated from the Chinese.
    Other title(s)
    Novel from Ming China
    ISBN
    • 9780231183062 (hardcover ; : acid-free paper)
    • 0231183062 (hardcover ; : acid-free paper)
    • 9780231183079 (paperback ; : acid-free paper)
    • 0231183070 (paperback ; : acid-free paper)
    LCCN
    2016049404
    OCLC
    973809834
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