The Fool's Fortune

AnonymousJul 2024

Rating 2.4
Word count
65K words
Chapters
11

Tags

Classic Works Portrait GalleryComplex HumanityDaily ReflectionsLight ReadingMoral DilemmaHumor ReliefSatirical StyleTurbulent Era

Summary

Chinese traditional culture has a long intellectual history, marked by a high degree of originality, inventiveness, and literary quality. Early modes of thought are highly distinctive: religious theology, classical texts of Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, and Hundred Schools thought, feng shui and metaphysical learning, the Twenty-Four Histories, and customs and topographical records—all are profound and extensive. This "Essence of Classical Chinese Culture: Original Texts" series preserves the appearance of the original books, with emphasis on conserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers cultivate temperament and subtly come to know the classics of Chinese learning.

Editor's review

Chiren fu (The Fool's Fortune), attributed to an unknown author, is included in the "Essence of Classical Chinese Culture: Original Texts" series, presented in a form that preserves the original text's appearance, and is suitable as an introductory reader for understanding traditional popular narrative and themes of worldly life. The title itself carries an ironic flavor; readers may understand it within the traditions of ancient fiction and folk moral admonition, attending to the ethical views and depictions of worldly affairs behind the characters' fates. The series emphasizes preserving and transmitting traditional thought and culture, so the book's value lies not in the thoroughness of modern scholarly annotation but in letting readers come directly into contact with the original text's aspect and experience the ancients' narrative language and expression of values. It should be read as a cultural sample rather than a quick entertainment book, with attention to forms of address, customs, and ideas of cause and effect. It suits close reading in quiet, unbroken stretches of time, and can be read against other works in the same series to observe how traditional thought takes form in different genres.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. First read through once to grasp character relationships and narrative threads, then return to the ethical expression at key turning points.
  2. Prepare pen and paper to record unfamiliar forms of address, customs, and allusions, checking them together afterward to avoid frequent interruption.
  3. Read alongside other works in the same series, observing differences in how traditional thought appears in different genres.
  4. After finishing, write a short review of about a hundred words focusing on the values conveyed in the book and your reading experience today.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 痴人福
  3. 叙
  4. 第一回 丑郎君巧设鸳鸯计
  5. 第二回 美佳人智谋观音堂
  6. 第三回 丑媳妇隐妒侍夫
  7. 第四回 好家人潜心奉主
  8. 第五回 唐夫人背夫遣妾
  9. 第六回 田家仆为国筹饷
  10. 第七回 唐子才智定鸳鸯内应外合奏功捷
  11. 第八回 田北平虔诚沐浴变形换面受皇恩

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no foundation in classical Chinese? The book preserves the original appearance and has not been rewritten in modern vernacular, so readers with weak classical Chinese will encounter some obstacles. It is advisable first to have basic experience in reading classical Chinese, or to proceed paragraph by paragraph with reference works; if you only want the gist of the story, read related introductory material before entering the original text.
What are the features of the "Essence of Classical Chinese Culture: Original Texts" series? The series aims to preserve and transmit traditional Chinese thought and culture, emphasizing preservation of the original text's appearance so that readers come directly into contact with the old text. It does not pursue exhaustive modern annotation but focuses on presenting the original aspect, suited to readers who already have some reading ability and wish to stay close to traditional texts.
What should I focus on when reading this book? You may attend to the ethical views behind the characters' fates, the arrangement of cause and effect, and the depiction of worldly affairs, noting the period features of forms of address, customs, and narrative language. Reading the text closely as a cultural sample reveals more of traditional popular narrative's modes of expression and value orientation than simply following the plot.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.