Mouse vs. Cat in Chinese Literature Tales and Commentary

Translator:
Wilt L. Idema

Publisher:
University of Washington Press

Publication date:
Feb 28, 2019

Abstract:

In literatures worldwide, animal fables have been analyzed for their revealingly anthropomorphic views, but until now little attention has been given to the animal tales of China. The complex, competitive relationship between rodents (vilified as thieves of grain) and the felines with whom they are perennially at war is explored in this presentation of Chinese tales about cats and mice. Master translator Wilt Idema situates them in an overview of animal tales in world literature, in the Chinese literary tradition as a whole, and within Chinese imaginative depictions of animals.

The tales demonstrate the animals’ symbolism and their unusually prominent—and verbal—role in the stories. These readings depict cats and mice in conflict, in marital bonds, and in litigation—most centrally in a legal case of a mouse against a cat in the underworld court of King Yama. Many of the stories adopt the perspective of the mice as animals merely trying to survive, while also recognizing that cats are natural hunters.

This entertaining volume will appeal to readers interested in Chinese literature and society, comparative literature, and posthumanist consideration of human-animal relations.

Table of Contents:

Introduction p. 3
Chapter 1 Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats p. 22
    Rapacious Rats p. 23
    Deserving Mice p. 27
    Performing Mice p. 28
    Revered Rats p. 31
    Wildcats and Pussycats p. 34
    Buddhist Cats p. 38
    Good Mousers and Lazy Pets p. 41
    Demonic Cats p. 48
    Cat Lovers and Cat Lore p. 53

Chapter 2 The White Mouse and the Five Rats p. 56
    The White Mouse p. 57
    The Five Rats p. 65
    The Execution of the Five Rats p. 70

Chapter 3 A Wedding and a Court Case p. 82
    The Marriage of the Mouse p. 82
    The Court Case p. 90
    Other Genres p. 102
    The Mutual Accusations of the Cat and the Mouse p. 103
    The Scroll of the Accusation of the Mouse against the Cat p. 108

Chapter 4 A Tale without Shape or Shadow p. 114
    Expanding the Court Case p. 114
    Prequels: Creation and Pride p. 118
    Prequels: The Crashed Wedding p. 123
    Prequels: The War of the Mice against the Cat p. 127
    A Tale without Shape or Shadow p. 131

Chapter 5 Peace Negotiations and Dystopias p. 154
    Actualized Versions of the Court Case p. 156
    Modern and Contemporary Authors on Cats and Rats p. 163

Epilogue: Cats and Mice in Love and War from East to West