1 DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER OUTLINE AND A BRIEF ENGLISH- LANGUAGE BIBLIOGRAPHY (Pinyin [P/Y], Honglou meng; Wade-Giles [W/G], Hung-lou meng; Chinese: 紅樓夢) Richard J. Smith Rice University NOTE: This outline is designed to provide a bit of guidance as you read volume 1 of The Story of the Stone. I am less interested in your appreciation of the novel as a “literary work” than I am in the book as a reflection of Chinese culture (world view, aesthetics, values, life-styles, etc.). OUTLINE (pp. 1-5) BIBLIOGRAPHY (pp. 5-9) OUTLINE I. Basic features of the novel (generally considered to be China’s greatest) A. 120 chapters; nearly 1,300 pages; over 700,000 words B. Over 75 printed Chinese editions; over 15 foreign translations C. About thirty major characters; over 400 minor characters D. First 80 chapters of the novel commonly known as The Story of the Stone (Shitou ji 石頭記) 1. By Cao Xue-qin 曹雪芹 (W/G, Ts’ao Hsueh-ch’in , d. 1763) (A) Descended from Chinese Bannerman-Bondservant family (B) Grand holdings in Nanjing confiscated by Yongzheng emperor for family’s dishonesty and incompetence 2. Hawkes translation by far the best; takes into account linguistic and other subtleties, rendered in the British idiom E. Last 40 chapters of the novel attributed to Gao E 高鶚 (W/G, Kao O) F. Entire novel made comprehensible by commentaries 1. Most famous and useful: the Red Inkstone Commentary () II. Structure and style of the novel A. Basic organizing principles (like the culture as a whole) 1. Several modes: realistic, allegorical, narrative 2. Much foreshadowing, but, as in Chinese philosophy, syncronicity esteemed over simple causality as an explanatory principle 3. Emphasis on relations, qualities, and states of being 4. Novel deliberately not fixed in time or place (tho’ the time is obviously the Qing dynasty, and the place, a composite of Nanjing and Beijing) B. Yin-yang complementarity 1. Juxtaposition and alternation of themes, images, personalities, situations C. Some examples: 1. Theme of interpenetration of reality and illusion, daily life and dreams (the idea of true and false producing one another) Truth becomes fiction when the fiction’s true