Rereading the Stone: Desire and the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber 9780691188195, 0691090130, 0691015619

The eighteenth-century Hongloumeng, known in English as Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone, is generally

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R E R E A D I N G T H E STONE

R E R E A D I N G T H E STONE

DESIRE A N D THE M A K I N G DREAM

OF F I C T I O N I N

OF THE RED

CHAMBER

Anthony C. Yu

P R I N C E T O N

U N I V E R S I T Y

P R E S S

PRINCETON AND OXFORD

Copyright O 1997 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY A l l Rights Reserved Second printing, and first paperback printing, 2001 Paperback ISBN 0-691-09013-0 The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows Yu, Anthony C , 1938Rereading the stone : desire and the making o f fiction in Dream o f the red chamber / Anthony C. Yu. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-691-01561-9 (cl : alk. paper) 1. Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in, ca. 1717-1763. Hung lou meng. 2. Chinese fiction—History and criticism. I . Title. PL2727.S2Y6 1997 895'.1348—dc21 97-2207 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Times Roman Printed on acid-free paper.

0 0

www.pup.princeton.edu Printed in the United States o f America 3

5

7

9

10

8

6

4

2

For m y students at the University o f Chicago and in

memoriam

the Dead at Tiananmen Square June 4, 1989

M i avvedevo ora che si possono sognare anche dei libri, e dunque si possono sognare dei sogni... Un sogno è una scrittura, e molte scritture non sono altro che sogni. (Umberto Eco, / / nome della rosa)

Contents

Abbreviations

ix

Preface

xi

Chapter I . Reading Reading Reading Reading

the First Readings as History History, Reading Fiction

3 3 20 26

Chapter I I . Desire

53

The Definition The Dialectics Ritual and the Pathocentrism

56 66 74 82

of "Qing" of Nature and Disposition Rule of Desire and the Legitimation of Desire

Chapter I I I . Stone The The The The

Stone of Fiction Gate of Emptiness Dream and the Mirror Fiction of Stone

Chapter I V . Literature

110 110 121 137 151 172

Marriage, Learning, Examination Censorship and the Critics

172 186

The Fiction of Desire The Fate of Reading

194 210

Chapter V. Tragedy Choosing the Protagonist The Orphaned Contender The Thwarted Communion Between Delusion and Hope

219 219 226 234 246

Conclusion

256

Glossary

269

Bibliography

277

Index

313

Abbreviations

CLEAR CWLM GD WXLL YJ HC J HJAS HLM

HLMJ HLMXK HLMYJJK HLMZP HSWC Itö

JAAR JAS JCP JW Leningrad

NLH Pingyu

PR Qianlong

Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews Chung Wai Literary Monthly (Zhongwai wenxue ^ # f~SC# ) Gudai wenxue lilun yanjiu "ËJ \X ~St S §Ê Wí ^ Historians of China and Japan. Edited b y W . G. Beasley and E. G. Pulleyblank. London: O x f o r d University Press, 1961. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies Hongloumeng ¡ $ 1 U W . B y Cao X u e q i n and Gao E W S ^ , f o i ? ! . 3 vols. Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 1982. Citations refer only to this edition. Hongloumengjuan fàLWtW^È. C o m p i l e d b y Y i Su - ^ 3 1 . 2 vols. Shanghai: Zhonghua, 1963. Hongloumeng xuekan K 1 1 W # f J Hongloumeng yanjiu jikan ¡ $ 1 U ^ 5Jf ^ JH f fJ Hongloumeng zhuping ¡ $ 1 U . Edited and compiled b y M a o D e b i a o ^ É Ü l M et al. Nanning: Guangxi renmin, 1981. Hu Shi(h) wencun WM^tfë. B y H u Shi(h). 4 vols. Taipei: Yuandong, 1961. Itö Söhei trans. Körömu UMW. 3 vols. I n Chügoku koten bungaku taikei ^ H t ì A ^ ^ P ^ C ^ . Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1969. Journal of the American Academy of Religion Journal of Asian Studies Journal of Chinese Philosophy The Journey to the West. Translated by A n t h o n y C. Y u . 4 vols. Chicago: University o f Chicago Press, 1977-1984. Shitouji S Í . Facsimile edition o f a handwritten manuscript kept i n the Leningrad branch o f the Institute o f Oriental Studies, Soviet Academy o f Sciences. 6 vols. Beijing: Zhonghua, 1986. New Literary History Xinbian Shitouji Zhiyanzhai pingyu jijiao $ f M ï ï S Í H B íM m ! ¥ ! § Í S I $ . Edited b y Chan Hingho (Chen Qinghao) W. Mìa . Revised edition. Taipei: Lianjing, 1986. La rêve dans le pavillon rouge. Translated b y L i Tche-houa and Jacqueline A l é z a ï s . 2 vols. Paris: Gallimard, 1981. Qianlong chaoben bainian hui Hongloumeng gao l e l ü í ^ ^ H t H U f i S ^ Í I . Reprint o f 1963 facsimile edition. Shanghai: Guji, 1984. f

QSC QTS

Quan Song ci ^5^M. Edited by Tang Guizhang vols. Beijing: Zhonghua, 1965; Tainan: M i n g l u n , 1975. Quan Tang shi g^f. 12 vols. Beijing: Zhonghua, 1960; Tainan: M i n g l u n , 1974. ¡K I l i