Songling Pu (1640–1715)

This slim volume contains a number of delightfully weird stories taken from "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" by Pu Songling (1640 - 1715). Apart from the fact that they are populated by supernatural beings (ghosts, poltergeists, shapeshifters and fantastic beasts), what makes these tales "weird" is that they defy Western conventions of the ghost or gothic story. Those expecting elaborate scene-painting or profound psychological probing will be disappointed. Instead, atmosphere and show more character are evoked in a few broad brushstrokes and the reader is immediately thrust into the narrative. The most otherworldly of happenings are described in matter-of-fact prose of fable-like simplicity - as if the boundary with the supernatural were but a veil which can be easily brushed away. The brevity of the tales needs some getting used to (some of the stories are only a couple of pages long) but the style grows on you and becomes unexpectedly addictive. Fans of the gothic who wish to read something different should look no further. show less

Classical Chinese literature obviously does not consist solely of the Six Great Novels, and I wanted my reading project to also include some shorter (but not necessarily minor) books. Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio was my first attempt at a canonized work which is not a several thousand pages long, and overall I enjoyed it, if not quite as much as the novels, which I strongly suspect is due to more getting lost in translation.

Pu Songling’s work is written in “classical” Chinese as show more opposed to the “vernacular” of the novels. Not knowing any Chinese at all, I have not the faintest clue what the implies, but according to the translator of the edition I have read, John Minford, the former is highly elliptical and allusive, while the latter is much more straightforward. The tales in this volume often rely heavily on references to other works, and are often oblique in their allusions – a Chinese gentleman reader of the 17th century would probably have caught them easily, but a modern day Western reader is quite lost and has to rely on annotations. John Minford thankfully supplies a generous amount of those (as well as a highly informative introduction), but it still is not quite the same – the whole situation is rather reminiscent of Plum in a Golden Vase – and in fact, Strange Tales shares another trait with that novel, namely that it is very frank about sexuality; the sex is not as explicit, but it occurs rather more often.

When I was starting with this, I was expecting a Chinese version of Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book, but what I got instead was a Chinese version of Hebel’s Kalendergeschichten with added supernatural elements (and more sex). Which, as I hasten to add, is not a bad thing at all. The stories in this volume (104 in all, a selection from the original) are all short to very short (I don’t think there is a single one above twenty pages) and vary in nature, from didactic morality tales over ghost stories to reports of strange occurrences like you’d find them in the Miscellaneous section of your newspaper (if it was published in 17th century China, that is). And there is, of course, cannibalism – I guess no piece of Classical Chinese literature would be complete without it. Some tales I found delightful, some left me scratching my head, some were amazing, some plain bizarre, some I got, some left me baffled – in short, this collection is very much like the notorious box of chocolates, you never know what you will get.

Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio is best read one or two tales at a time, so that each piece has space and time to unfold its own peculiar charm. Another trait this collection shares with chocolates is that too many ingested at once will spoil your stomach, and that while they are delicious, they are not particularly nourishing. Only maybe half a dozen stories felt like they’d make any lasting impact, the rest, while a pleasant diversion, also seemed somewhat shallow. Which may be because of the shortness of the tales, but I’m more inclined to blame it on them being translations. John Minford’s translation does appear to be a good one (as far as i can tell not knowing the original), but translations can only do so much; and if a work which depends as much on nuances and wordplay (not to mention the occasional double entendre) as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio appears to do, then it will unfailingly be bound in its original language and any translation, no matter how good, will only give a blurry, washed-out reproduction of the original’s splendour. Even so, just for the glimpse it grants us, it is well worth reading translations. And who knows, readers might find themselves motivated to actually learn the language of the original… show less

This slim volume contains a number of delightfully weird stories taken from "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" by Pu Songling (1640 - 1715). Apart from the fact that they are populated by supernatural beings (ghosts, poltergeists, shapeshifters and fantastic beasts), what makes these tales "weird" is that they defy Western conventions of the ghost or gothic story. Those expecting elaborate scene-painting or profound psychological probing will be disappointed. Instead, atmosphere and show more character are evoked in a few broad brushstrokes and the reader is immediately thrust into the narrative. The most otherworldly of happenings are described in matter-of-fact prose of fable-like simplicity - as if the boundary with the supernatural were but a veil which can be easily brushed away. The brevity of the tales needs some getting used to (some of the stories are only a couple of pages long) but the style grows on you and becomes unexpectedly addictive. Fans of the gothic who wish to read something different should look no further. show less

Lots of fun stories. The most notable theme is sex with fox spirits although there's a good variety of stuff too, with varying morals and conclusions even when the set-up is pretty similar. There's nothing here that made me think "woah that's amazing" hence the 4 star but I enjoyed reading every single story here - there's a lot of cool ideas and overall there's an amazing and absorbing atmosphere that really takes you into the world of the Chinese studio.

The Penguin edition I was using has show more very helpful notes and a good glossary that help you understand the setting for each story as well as pointing out allusions to classic Chinese literature - although I'd note it relies notably on 19th century sources and stuff quite a bit, dunno how some of the explanations of concepts stand up to modern scholarship. 1 story adds the commentary which is apparently standard in the full original Chinese editions. show less