The Moon Over the Mountain

Name: The Moon Over the Mountain
ISBN: 9787551819251

中岛敦 / 徐建雄Shaanxi Sanqin Publishing House · ChinaDec 2021

4.2

Word count: 174K words
Chapters: 65
ISBN: 9787551819251

Report an error Find this book

Summary

This collection of short stories and novellas by Nakajima Atsushi features ten celebrated works, with illustrations by the maverick manga artist Satan-kun. His fiction draws heavily on Chinese classics such as the Zuo Zhuan, the Analects, the Zhuangzi, the Records of the Grand Historian, Journey to the West, and Tang dynasty tales, blending a rich Chinese classical sensibility with a grotesque Japanese ghost-story atmosphere. He injects modern sensibilities into historical figures, so that the cold names of ancient texts suddenly come alive as flesh-and-blood, deeply resonant, dramatically charged characters.

Editor's review

The Moon Over the Mountain presents a concentrated selection of Nakajima Atsushi's short stories and novellas. Most of the ten works draw on the Zuo Zhuan, the Analects, the Zhuangzi, the Records of the Grand Historian, Journey to the West, and Tang dynasty tales, fusing the skeleton of Chinese classics with the shadowy atmosphere of Japanese ghost stories. Its value lies not in retelling old tales but in giving figures from ancient texts modern hesitation, pride, and fear, so that historical characters rise from the page with dramatic tension and psychological depth. Satan-kun's illustrations add an eerie visual layer that echoes the spiritual ruptures in the stories, such as men turning into tigers. Reading it, one feels both the restraint of classical narrative and the modern individual's repeated questioning of talent, shame, and fate. It suits quiet, unhurried reading, one story at a time; readers familiar with the relevant Chinese classics will more easily notice the author's shifts of emphasis and intent in rewriting them.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy Chinese classical stories rewritten from a modern perspective
Readers interested in modern Japanese short fiction and psychological portrayal
People who need a short-story collection to read in segments on commutes or before sleep
Readers who want to see classics such as the Analects and the Zhuangzi through literary adaptation

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a long, continuous plot and a fully built world
Those who prefer light, brisk, strongly paced popular stories
Readers averse to ghost-story atmospheres and dark psychological undercurrents

Reading tips

Start with the pieces related to Journey to the West and the Records of the Grand Historian, then read those drawn from the Zhuangzi and the Analects, comparing the degree of rewriting.
Pause after each story and note what the characters care about most, tracing the book's inquiry into pride and talent.
Skip unfamiliar Chinese allusions at first and revisit them after finishing a story, so as not to break the narrative rhythm.
Treat the illustrations as atmosphere cues rather than plot diagrams, and notice the emotional gap between image and text.

About the publisher

Shaanxi Sanqin Publishing House China · Founded in 1985

Founded in 1985, Shaanxi Sanqin Publishing House focuses on the collation of ancient books and works on literature and history, maintaining a sustained commitment to classical literature and historical reading. Its books in the database consist mainly of collated editions of Chinese classics, such as recent editions of Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, often issued in complete or multi-volume sets for systematic reading; works such as A New Account of the Tales of the World and Tao'an Mengyi: A Newly Annotated Complete Translation emphasize annotation and popularization. Its author resources include original authors such as Wu Cheng'en, Cao Xueqin, Luo Guanzhong, and Shi Nai'an, as well as critics, editors, and researchers such as Jin Shengtan, Mao Zonggang, Liu Yiqing, and Liu Qiang. Common categories include classical literature, literary appreciation, classic works, historical reading, military studies, and ancient poetry, reflecting a publishing approach that combines the collation of classic texts, critical appreciation, and the popularization of literature and history. As public information is limited, this overview of its publishing directions is based only on the books in the database.

版权信息
山月记
名人传
悟净出世
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
悟净叹异
牛人
盈虚
弟子
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
十
十一
十二
十三
十四
十五
十六
李陵
一
二
三
夫妇
光·风·梦
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
十
十一
十二
十三
十四
十五
十六
十七
十八
十九
二十
汉诗六首
早春下利根川
春河马
夜怀
咏上田氏
晚晴见长虹
五月五日自哂戏作
中岛敦年谱

FAQ

Can I read this book without having read the Zuo Zhuan or the Zhuangzi?

Yes. Although the stories draw heavily on Chinese classics, the narratives stand relatively independent, and readers unfamiliar with the originals can still follow the characters' situations and emotions. Those who know the classics will more easily see where the author shifts emphasis in rewriting. There is no need to read the originals first; read the stories directly and look up sources later for characters that interest you.

Is this a novel or a short-story collection?

It is a collection of short stories and novellas containing ten celebrated works. Each piece stands alone, so they need not be read in order. It suits segmented reading and browsing by subject of interest. The pieces echo one another in atmosphere and theme, but their plots do not connect sequentially.

What role do Satan-kun's illustrations play in the book?

The illustrations add an eerie visual quality to the book, complementing the atmosphere of spiritual rupture and sudden turns of fate in Nakajima Atsushi's characters. They serve more as supplements of mood and imagery than as plot explanation. While reading, treat the images as atmosphere cues rather than matching each one to the story's content.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

中岛敦 Author

Nakajima Atsushi was a Japanese author whose work The Moon over the Mountain (Sangetsuki) is relatively widely known among Chinese readers and is often classified under foreign literature. The library holds 10 of his works, including several editions of The Moon over the Mountain, Light and Wind and Dream, a three-volume collection titled Representative Masterpieces of Great Japanese Writers, and a two-volume boxed set, Nakajima Atsushi Novels: The Moon over the Mountain and Light, Wind, and Dream. Because public information is limited, his biographical details are not elaborated here; judged only from his works, his fiction often draws on classical legends and historical figures, with a calm and restrained style that uses ancient settings to explore human perplexity over the self, talent, and fate, and has thus continued to resonate with East Asian readers, with Chinese translations reprinted repeatedly.

徐建雄 Author

Xu Jianxiong: publicly available information is limited, and no clear record of his identity or career has been found. Nevertheless, the twenty-eight works held in the library indicate that he is an author active in translation and the collation of classical texts. His representative works include a new annotated and fully translated edition of Tao An Meng Yi, as well as translations of Japanese literature such as Natsume Soseki's I Am a Cat and Kokoro, and Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country, The Izu Dancer, and Thousand Cranes. Spanning categories including classics, foreign literature, inspirational growth, and essays, these works show his sustained engagement with both the annotation of classical texts and the translation of foreign literature. His translations emphasize readability, offering Chinese readers accessible versions of Ming and Qing prose and modern Japanese fiction.