内容简介
"The Story of the Stone (c. 1760)", also known by the title of
"The Dream of the Red Chamber", is the great novel of manners in
Chinese literature. Divided into five volumes, of which "The
Warning Voice" is the third, it charts the glory and decline of the
illustrious Jia family (a story which closely accords with the
fortunes of the author's own family). The two main characters,
Bao-yu and Dai-yu, are set against a rich tapestry of humour,
realistic detail and delicate poetry, which accurately reflects the
ritualized hurly-burly of Chinese family life. But over and above
the novel hangs the constant reminder that there is another plane
of existence - a theme which affirms the Buddhist belief in a
supernatural scheme of things.
作者简介
Cao Xueqin (Ts'ao Hsueh-ch'in) ca. 1715-1763 Cao is considered
to be China's greatest novelist, but little is known of his life.
An unconventional, versatile man, he came from an eminent and
wealthy family which suffered a reversal of fortune in 1728 after
the death of the Kangxi Emperor and a power struggle between his
sons. Cao seems to have spent about ten years writing and revising
his novel, from roughly 1740 to 1750, but the last 40 of the 120
chapters were completed by a different author, probably after his
death. He also worked for a period of time in the Imperial Clan's
school for the children of the nobility and bannermen, but
eventually settled in the countryside west of Peking. He earned
some money by selling his own paintings, but his family seems to
have been perpetually in poverty.