瞿佑

Qu You was a Ming-dynasty writer of classical-language fiction, though public information about his life is limited. Five works are listed under his name in this catalog, the best known being New Tales Under the Lamplight (Jiandeng Xinhua), which also appears among the "Ten Great Banned Books of Ancient China." The catalog includes an unannotated edition and a plain-Chinese retelling of the same work, as well as his poetry-related work Guitian Shihua. His writing often draws on social life and strange or anecdotal events, in an elegant style that blends narrative with poetic interest, occupying a place between classical tales of the marvelous and notebook fiction. New Tales Under the Lamplight circulated widely and influenced later fiction and drama; its common categories here span social fiction, classical poetry, and youth literature, showing that his works cross the terrain of everyday life and verse.