Hung Lou Meng, or, The Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I

Cao XueqinProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.7
Word count
1M words
Chapters
103

Tags

English Originals Classical Literature Classic MasterpieceFate and FortuneFamily Rise and FallWomen's PortraitsComplex HumanityTraditional Aesthetics

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by CaoAuthor: Cao, Xueqin, 1717?-1763,Language: English, Class: PL: Language and Literatures: Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania, Release Date: Jan 1, 2006

Editor's review

This is the English e-book of Book I of the English translation of Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, from Project Gutenberg, and is in the public domain. Its primary value lies in the availability of the edition: readers can read an early English translation of this classic Chinese novel on electronic devices at no cost, making it suitable as introductory material for cross-language reading. It should be noted that this edition has an English main text, and Project Gutenberg provides an electronic text, not a meticulously collated scholarly edition; the translation style and wording bear the marks of its time, and readers should not regard it as the sole authoritative translation. In terms of reading context, it is more suitable for readers who already have a basic understanding of Hung Lou Meng and wish to compare English expressions or conduct translation research, and it can also serve as lengthy reading material for English learners. As this is Book I, the story has not yet fully unfolded, so it is recommended to use it together with Book II for continuous reading. Overall, this is an easily accessible public resource whose value lies in open access and bilingual reference, rather than in replacing a close-reading edition of the Chinese original.

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Reading tips

  1. First familiarize yourself with the main character relationships in Hung Lou Meng, then read the English translation to reduce comprehension difficulties.
  2. Read continuously with Book II to avoid interruption caused by the incomplete plot of Book I.
  3. Take simple notes when encountering old-style translated names or expressions to facilitate comparison with the Chinese original.
  4. You may closely read familiar passages such as the first meeting of Bao-yu and Dai-yu to compare how the translation handles them.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96
  97. 97
  98. 98
  99. 99
  100. 100
  101. 101
  102. 102
  103. 103

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? The main text of this e-book is in English; it is the English translation of Book I of Hung Lou Meng, from Project Gutenberg. The title retains the Hanyu Pinyin form, but the content is in English, suitable for parallel reading or translation research, not for reading as the Chinese original.
Why is there only Book I? Can it be read alone? Project Gutenberg releases this novel as two e-books, and this is Book I. The plot of Book I has not yet fully unfolded, so reading it alone will create a noticeable sense of interruption; it is recommended to read continuously with Book II for a more complete narrative experience.
Is this edition suitable for academic citation? This edition is a public-domain electronic text, easy to obtain and read, but it is not a meticulously collated scholarly edition; the translation bears the style of its time and lacks detailed annotations. If used for citation in academic papers, it is advisable to check translations or annotated editions from authoritative publishers, and not to rely solely on this electronic text.

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About the author

Cao Xueqin Author · Chinese

Cao Xueqin was a Qing dynasty novelist and the author of the Chinese classic Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou Meng). Public information about his life is limited, and few records survive; even the dates of his birth and death cannot be firmly established, though he is generally thought to have lived in the first half of the eighteenth century. His masterpiece is set against the rise and decline of the four great families of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue, and revolves around the loves and fates of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and others. Its large cast of characters are vividly individualized, and its subtle, understated language conveys deep insight into human nature and worldly affairs through the depiction of everyday life. The novel is regarded as the pinnacle of classical Chinese fiction and has had a profound influence on later literature and scholarship. The library holds Books I and II of its English translation, which show how this masterpiece has been presented to English-language readers.