{"product_id":"the-plum-in-the-golden-vase-or-chin-ping-mei-volume-one-9780691016146","title":"The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei, Volume One","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first volume of a celebrated translation of the classic Chinese novel\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the first volume in David Roy's celebrated translation of one of the most famous and important novels in Chinese literature. \u003ci\u003eThe Plum in the Golden Vase\u003c\/i\u003e or, \u003ci\u003eChin P’ing Mei\u003c\/i\u003e is an anonymous sixteenth-century work that focuses on the domestic life of Hsi-men Ch’ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant in a provincial town, who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines. The novel, known primarily for its erotic realism, is also a landmark in the development of the narrative art form—not only from a specifically Chinese perspective but in a world-historical context.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the possible exception of \u003ci\u003eThe Tale of Genji\u003c\/i\u003e (1010) and \u003ci\u003eDon Quixote\u003c\/i\u003e (1615), there is no earlier work of prose fiction of equal sophistication in world literature. Although its importance in the history of Chinese narrative has long been recognized, the technical virtuosity of the author, which is more reminiscent of the Dickens of \u003ci\u003eBleak House\u003c\/i\u003e, the Joyce of \u003ci\u003eUlysses\u003c\/i\u003e, or the Nabokov of \u003ci\u003eLolita\u003c\/i\u003e than anything in the earlier Chinese fiction tradition, has not yet received adequate recognition. This is partly because all of the existing European translations are either abridged or based on an inferior recension of the text. This translation and its annotation aim to faithfully represent and elucidate all the rhetorical features of the original in its most authentic form and thereby enable the Western reader to appreciate this Chinese masterpiece at its true worth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"David Tod Roy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42955763744886,"sku":"9780691016146","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0671\/1374\/6550\/files\/CoreSourceHub_4dac83ae-b9b5-4767-aee4-d6351e2de22c.jpg?v=1767713201","url":"https:\/\/ingramacademic.com\/products\/the-plum-in-the-golden-vase-or-chin-ping-mei-volume-one-9780691016146","provider":"Ingram Academic \u0026 Professional","version":"1.0","type":"link"}