Chinese Classics in English, 1960, Hardcover (Original Red Cloth), Book Condition: Near Fine, Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine, First Thus

Jin Ping Mei (Chinese: 金瓶梅)—translated into English as The Plum in the Golden Vase or The Golden Lotus—is a Chinese novel of manners composed in vernacular Chinese during the latter half of the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Consisting of 100 chapters, it was published under the pseudonym Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (蘭陵笑笑生), "The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling," but the only clue to the actual identity is that the author hailed from Lanling County in present-day Shandong. The novel circulated in manuscript as early as 1596, and may have undergone revision up to its first printed edition in 1610. The most widely read recension, edited and published with commentaries by Zhang Zhupo in 1695, deleted or rewrote passages important in understanding the author's intentions. he explicit depiction of sexuality garnered the novel a notoriety akin to Lady Chatterley's Lover and Lolita in the West, but critics such as the translator David Tod Roy see a firm moral structure which exacts retribution for the sexual libertinism of the central characters. We also have for sale Volume 3 in a matching edition. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. v + 375. 4-volume set (complete). Dust Jacket un-clipped. Gilt titles spine. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 500 grams. Category: Fiction; Chinese Literature; Novels; Chinese Classics; China; 16th Century; Literature & Literary. Inventory No: 5064.