Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio

The Strange Tales of Pu Songling (1640-1715) are exquisite and amusing miniatures that are regarded as the pinnacle of classical Chinese fiction. With their elegant prose witty wordplay and subtle charm the 104 stories in this selection reveal a world in which nothing is as it seems. Here a Taoist monk conjures up a magical pear tree a scholar recounts his previous incarnations a woman out-foxes the fox-spirit that possesses her a child bride gives birth to a thimble-sized baby a ghostly city appears out of nowhere and a heartless daughter-in-law is turned into a pig. In his tales of humans coupling with shape-shifting spirits bizarre phenomena haunted buildings and enchanted objects Pu Songling pushes back the boundaries of human experience and enlightens as he entertains. Review “Magical and wondrously entertaining . . .Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio overflows with ghosts demons monsters monks magicians revived corpses gods and fox-spirits. . . . [It] calls to mind a collection of mildly racy club stories or lost episodes ofThe Twilight Zone. . . . Fast paced surprisingly light in tone emotionally cool wryly humorous-these uncanny tales often just one or two pages long might almost be adult bedtime stories. . . . Reading this beloved classic provides a particularly enjoyable way to help celebrate Chinese New Year.” -The Washington Post About the Author John Minford is an emeritus professor of Chinese at the Australian National University.