The Complete Works of Lao She

Choosing a writer's complete works is essentially choosing an edition. This 19-volume revised edition is one of the most authoritative standard versions of Lao She's work: the editors adhered to the principle that collections Lao She compiled himself during his lifetime are included intact, so readers can see the author's own editorial intentions and the sequence of his works, not merely individual pieces later dismantled and rearranged. It also solves a problem that has long troubled readers—the various "selected works" and "complete novels" on the market follow inconsistent formats and vary in contents, whereas this edition is newly collated against first publications and first editions, and the drama volumes note first performance dates and textual changes, making it suitable both for serious reading and as a research base text. For general readers, acquiring all 19 volumes at once is certainly substantial, but it places the whole trajectory from The Philosophy of Lao Zhang to Beneath the Red Banner, and the many writing identities from fiction to stage drama to quyi and literary criticism, in a single set; reading Teahouse and then flipping to the work reports in Volume 18 reveals that this humorous Beijinger was in fact always seriously pondering language and national character. Hardcover 16mo, large type, thick paper, restrained design—the kind of book that can be passed down.