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Author Forsyth, Judith, 1943- author.

Title Xueqin and Xakespeare : reading the Story of the Stone through Hamlet / Judith Forsyth
Published New York, NY : Routledge, [2024]

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 278 pages)
Series Routledge Studies in Comparative Literature
Contents Introduction:The Story of the Stone: a ⁰́₈Shakespearean⁰́₉ translation 1.⁰́₈Look here upon this picture⁰́₉; ⁰́₈Gag his mouth. Beat him todeath⁰́₉: Patriarchal authority in Hamlet and The Story of the Stone2. ⁰́₈Such a perusal of my face⁰́₉; ⁰́₈The snow-white arm⁰́₉: Romantic love and tragic heroines in Hamlet and The Story of the Stone.3.⁰́₈But long before you died your heart was slain⁰́₉ (1.5.143) The Story of the Stone and the challenge of the shrew: Wang Xi-feng as tragic heroine.Selected BibliographyIndex
Summary This monograph offers a detailed consideration of the five-volume novel written by Cao Xueqin and translated into English as The Story of the Stone, when read through William Shakespeare⁰́₉s drama Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, A Tragedy in Five Acts. The book builds on the superlative David Hawkes/John Minford English language translation, which is inspired by resonances between the English Shakespearean literary heritage and the dynasties-old Chinese literary tradition inherited by Cao Xueqin. The Introduction sets out the potential for the significant cultural exchange between these two great literary works, each an inexhaustible inspiration of artistic and scholarly re-interpretation. Two chapters bring into consideration two universal literary themes: patriarchy ⁰́₃ filial obedience and family honour, and tragic romantic love. These chapters are structured so that a key episode in Hamlet provides the initial perspective, which is then carried through to an episode in The Story of the Stone which offers points of complementarity: in-depth interpretation draws on inter-textual, historical and contemporary contexts referenced from the immense body of scholarly research which has accumulated around these iconic works. The third chapter proposes a new reading of the problematic ⁰́₈shrew⁰́₉ character in the novel, Wang Xi-feng, through tracing the similarities of the structure of the narration of her life and death with a Shakespearean five-act tragedy
Notes Judith Forsyth is a Shakespeare scholar with a long and enduring interest in Chinese literary culture. The language barrier inhibited serious critical enquiry until the advent of the ⁰́₈Shakespearean⁰́₉ English translation of The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes and John Minford opened up the potential this book explores for detailed cultural exchange between the two great writers William Shakespeare and Cao Xueqin
Subject Cao, Xueqin, approximately 1717-1763.
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.
Chinese fiction -- History and criticism
LITERARY CRITICISM / Shakespeare
LITERARY CRITICISM / Asian / Chinese
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781032635552
103263555X
9781040012642
1040012647
9781040012666
1040012663