Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel
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A reinterpretation of some of the great works of Chinese fiction of the late Ming dynasty
In this book, Andrew Plaks reinterprets the great texts of Chinese fiction known as the “Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel” (ssu ta ch'i-shu). Arguing that these are far more than collections of popular narratives, Plaks shows that their fullest critical revisions represent a sophisticated new genre of Chinese prose fiction arising in the late Ming dynasty, especially in the sixteenth century. He then analyzes these radical transformations of prior source materials, which reflect the values and intellectual concerns of the literati of the period.
Andrew H. Plaks is professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and professor emeritus of East Asian studies and comparative literature at Princeton University. He is the author of Archetype and Allegory in the “Dream of the Red Chamber” and the editor of Chinese Narrative: Critical and Theoretical Essays (both Princeton).