Original language:
Chinese Translated from: Russian
Authors: Pu Songling
Translated by: Survilaitė, Ona
ISBN: 4703020100-102
Published in: Vilnius
Published on: 1987
Publisher: Vaga
‘Strange Tales from Liaozhai’ is a collection of novels written by Chinese writer Pu Songling. In this book author, who had chosen Liaozhai pseudonym, portrays China in 17th–18th centuries, the same that he had lived in. By using his unique literary skills Pu Songling narrates the most unexpected stories, which supposedly really happened in Shandong province, where Pu Songling had been living, or just retell stories, that he had heard from other people. These tales describe mythical creatures and magic in human world as well as other fantasy elements.
The book is divided into three main chapters : ‘Monks wizards’, ‘Strange stories’ and ‘Stories about extraordinary people’. The main characters of the first chapter are monks, also known as Taoist. They are portrayed as saint magicians and that is why they are also dangerous and deserved to be respected. Anybody who is trying to harm monks will be punished. When there is a need of aid, monks help people with their magic, teach people how to achieve their aims and also monks have an ability to predict the future. If the person wants to use monks‘ talents with bad intentions, he or she will definitely get a deserved punishment from monks. Therefore, most of the novels of this chapter end with a moral, which highlights the importance of honesty in life.
In other two chapters ‘Strange stories’ and ‘Stories about extraordinary people’ miracles are made not by monks, but by street magicians, various wizards, witches and magical foxes. They have an abilities to trek the greatest distances instantaneously, become invisible, turn people or objects into the animals. Moreover, if they want they can create illusions, which are so realistic that people believe them without any doubt.
One of the most common figures in the novels are magical foxes. Foxes in Chinese folklore are special creatures. They are able to change their form – from fox-animal to fox-woman and fox-man. Foxes of these novels are usually immortal or long-lived, they practice witchcraft and are almost an equivalent to deity. Liaozhai writes how those foxes enchant people and make them see things that are not true – they make them see hallucinations. Some of the foxes possess people like the evil spirit or seduce them with an astonishing beauty and love charms. Then the foxes suck out people\’s lives and condemn them to death. However, there are another kind of foxes too. Those foxes come to people because of love. When magical foxes are truly in love they become loyal friends, wise advisers, who take care of their lovers. Another common figure in these novels is student. They are mostly those people who have dedicated all their life to education and also they are the ones that frequently fell in love with magical foxes.
The author tries to combine fantasy and reality in his works. For instance, in the novels he mentions people who really lived during that period of time (17th–18th centuries), as well as the real places. There are a couple of tales in which Liaozhai talks about his and his friends adventures. Furthermore, there are some moments when the readers can feel a grudge towards Manchurians, who took China under control in 1664. In the novels Liaozhai is particularly criticizing Chinese officials for their arbitrariness, greed, corruptibility and intrigue. Most often fantasy in these novels does not play the main role, it is just a background. The author focuses on characters, their actions and evaluates their behavior according to Confucian ideology.
Pu Songling (1640–1715) is a famous Chinese writer, who had chosen Liaozhai pseudonym for his literature works. Pu Songling was from Shandong province that is located in the East part of China. There are not much extant data about Pu Songling\’s life, but it is known that he was exceptionally good at Chinese literature and most likely was working as a private tutor. Furthermore, there are some remaining information that in 1711 after an exam he received a Gongsheng (tribute student) degree. As a writer he had his own specific writing style. Moreover, Pu Songling with other two friends, who were writers as well, had set up a Commonwealth of poets.