Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio or Liaozhai Zhiyi( "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" or "Strange Tales of Liaozhai") is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling during the early Qing Dynasty. It was written in Classical Chinese rather than Vernacular Chinese.
The compilation was first circulated in manuscript form before it was published posthumously. Sources differ in their account of the year of publication. One source claims the "Strange Tales" were published by Pu's grandson in 1740. However, the earliest existing print version today dates to 1766.
Pu is believed to have completed the majority of the tales sometime in 1679, though he could have added entries as late as 1707.
Pu borrows from a folk tradition of oral storytelling to put to paper a series of captivating, colorful stories, where the boundary between reality and the odd or fantastic is blurred. The cast of characters include vixen spirits, ghosts, scholars, court officials, Taoist exorcists and beasts. Moral purposes are often inverted between humans and the supposedly degenerate ghosts or spirits, resulting in a satirical edge to some of the stories. Ghosts and spirits are often bold and trustworthy, while humans are on the other hand weak, indecisive and easily manipulated, reflecting the author's own disillusionment with his society.
The stories differ broadly in length. Conciseness is the key, with the shortest stories under a page in length.
Liaozhai Zhiyi has inspired countless Chinese film adaptations, including those by King Hu ("Painted Skin"), Tsui Hark 徐克 ("A Chinese Ghost Story" series) and the Taiwanese director Li Han-Hsiang.
Franz Kafka admired some of these tales in translation; in a letter to Felice Bauer (Jan 16, 1913) he described them as "exquisite".
