The Resurrected Skeleton

Idema is the master translator of Chinese popular and religious culture. Here he offers the first English-language translations of enchanting texts, both famous and rare, around one classic story: Zhuangzi's encounter with a skeleton. The anthology speaks both to universal concerns and to Chinese literature's unique way of blending religion, philosophy, poetry, and farce. -- Vincent Goossaert, coauthor of The Religious Question in Modern China Master Zhuang's encounter with a skull, macabre though it may innately seem, is possessed of the peculiarly wry and mordant humor of the author of the eponymous volume also known as Wandering on the Way. This short, piquant tale spawned a host of adaptations and variations in a wide variety of genres, from rhapsodies to dramas, from ballad stories to precious scrolls, and many others beside. Idema gathers a generous selection of texts on this grim theme that has persisted in the Chinese literary tradition for more than two thousand years and provides them with expert translations that are sure to leave readers both chilled and thrilled. -- Victor H. Mair, coeditor of The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature A masterful set of translations... Idema has presented future researchers, not only in Chinese and Daoist studies but also in comparative literature, religious studies, and cultural studies generally, with a wonderful collection of resources for investigation and interpretation. -- Jeffrey L. Richey H-Asia [The Resurrected Skeleton: From Zhuangzi to Lu Xun] offers for students and scholars alike an accessible and fresh avenue to a portion of the Zhuangzi's multi-faceted reception history that has not been available in English to this day. Journal of Chinese Religion

Wilt L. Idema is Research Professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University. He has published widely on traditional Chinese vernacular fiction and drama and is fascinated by works at the intersection of literature and religion. In recent years, he has published a number of anthologies of plays and ballads concerning traditional Chinese legends and folktales. These books include "The Orphan of Zhao" and Other Yuan Plays: The Earliest Known Versions (with Stephen H. West); Judge Bao and the Rule of Law: Eight Ballad-Stories from the Period 1250-1450; Meng Jiangnu Brings Down the Great Wall: Ten Versions of a Chinese Legend; and Escape from Blood Pond Hell: The Tales of Mulian and Woman Huang (with Beata Grant).

Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Two Narrative Daoqing 2. One Late Ming Play 3. One Youth Book 4. One Precious Scroll 5. One Modern Parody Appendix 1. Three Rhapsodies Appendix 2. Twenty-One Lyrics Appendix 3. Ten Skeletons Character List Bibliography Index