Dream of the red chamber

Author / Creator

Cao, Xueqin, approximately 1717-1763, author

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Summary

"Dream of the Red Chamber is more than a novel of manners, but in its anatomizing of one extensive family it is at least that. The House of Chia is a world in itself, complex and fascinating. Its p...

"Dream of the Red Chamber is more than a novel of manners, but in its anatomizing of one extensive family it is at least that. The House of Chia is a world in itself, complex and fascinating. Its population consists of those who serve and those who are served, the maids no less than the mistresses, the messengers no less than the Matriarch. There are hundreds of people together, and each of them manages to somehow be an individual at the same time that he (or she, for women dominate the plot) maintains relations with the whole society of which he is a part. ... Pau-Yu and Black Jade are figures of high comedy whose affectations have an infinite charm; yet before the narrative is finished they are a tragic hero and heroine too." (Mark Van Doren, preface, page vi)

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