Robert Ford Campany
Publication Year:
2015
Publisher:
University of Hawaii Press
Abstract:
Between 300 and 600 C.E., Chinese writers compiled thousands of accounts of the strange and the extraordinary. Some described weird spirits, customs, and flora and fauna in distant lands. Some depicted individuals of unusual spiritual or moral achievement. But most told of ordinary people’s encounters with ghosts, demons, or gods; sojourns in the land of the dead; eerily significant dreams; and uncannily accurate premonitions. The selection of such stories presented here provides an alluring introduction to early medieval Chinese storytelling and opens a doorway to the enchanted world of thought, culture, and religious belief of that era. Known as zhiguai, or “accounts of anomalies,” they convey a great deal about how people saw the cosmos and their place in it. The tales were circulated because they were entertaining but also because their compilers meant to document the mysterious workings of spirits, the wonders of exotic places, and the nature of the afterlife.
A collection of more than two hundred tales, A Garden of Marvels offers an authoritative yet accessible introduction to zhiguai writings, particularly those never before translated or adequately researched. This volume will likely find its way to bedside tables as well as into classrooms and libraries, just as collections of zhiguai did in early medieval times.
Table of Contents:
Jiling ji (item 1) --
Jingyi ji (items 2-4) --
Jiyi ji (items 5-7) --
Kongshi zhiguai (items 8-11) --
Lieyi zhuan (items 12-21) --
Lushi yilin (item 22) --
Luyi zhuan (items 23-28) --
Qi Xie ji (items 29-37) --
Shen lu (items 38-39) --
Shenguai zhi (item 40) --
Shengui zhuan (items 41-42) --
Shenyi ji (items 43-44) --
Shenyi jing (items 45-46) --
Shuyi ji / by Zu Chongzhi (items 47-84) --
Shuyi ji / by Ren Fang (items 85-90) --
Soushen houji (items 91-102) --
Xiao shuo (item 103) --
Xu Qi Xie ji (items 104-105) --
Xuanyan ji (items 106-110) --
Xuanzhong ji (items 111-114) --
Xuyi ji (items 115-119) --
Yi yuan 異苑 (items 120-183) --
Youming lu 幽明錄 (items 184-208) --
Zhenyi zhuan 神異傳 (items 209-218) --
Zhi guai 志怪/ by Zu Taizhi (items 219-220) --
Other assorted accounts (items 221-225)
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