David L. Rolston is Associate Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Michigan. He is the editor of How to Read the Chinese Novel.

• Preface Abbreviations Introduction: traditional Chinese fiction commentary in context Part I. A Brief History of Chinese Fiction Commentary: 1. Mr. Pingdian: Jin Shengtan and the Shuihu zhuan 2. Dealing with Jin Shengtan and the rest of the 'Four Masterworks' 3. Decline and revival Part II. Making Room for Fiction: 4. Creating implied authors and readers 5. Liberating fiction from history 6. Liberating fiction from 'reality' Part III. From What to Who: The Turn Away from Plot: 7. From plot-centered to character-centered narratives 8. Relational characterization and ambiguos characters Part IV. How to Write the Chinese Novel: 9. Fiction criticism and how the story is told 10. Articulating the parts Part V. Four Solutions to the Challenge of Commentary: 11. Auto-commentary: the Xiyou bu and the Shuihu houzhuan 12. Commentator-narrators: Li Yu, Ding Yaokang, and Wen Kang 13. Latent commentary: the Rulin waishi 14. Everything all at once: the Honglou meng Works cited Glossary-Index.

David L. Rolston is Associate Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Michigan. He is the editor of How to Read the Chinese Novel.

• Preface Abbreviations Introduction: traditional Chinese fiction commentary in context Part I. A Brief History of Chinese Fiction Commentary: 1. Mr. Pingdian: Jin Shengtan and the Shuihu zhuan 2. Dealing with Jin Shengtan and the rest of the 'Four Masterworks' 3. Decline and revival Part II. Making Room for Fiction: 4. Creating implied authors and readers 5. Liberating fiction from history 6. Liberating fiction from 'reality' Part III. From What to Who: The Turn Away from Plot: 7. From plot-centered to character-centered narratives 8. Relational characterization and ambiguos characters Part IV. How to Write the Chinese Novel: 9. Fiction criticism and how the story is told 10. Articulating the parts Part V. Four Solutions to the Challenge of Commentary: 11. Auto-commentary: the Xiyou bu and the Shuihu houzhuan 12. Commentator-narrators: Li Yu, Ding Yaokang, and Wen Kang 13. Latent commentary: the Rulin waishi 14. Everything all at once: the Honglou meng Works cited Glossary-Index.

David L. Rolston is Associate Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Michigan. He is the editor of How to Read the Chinese Novel.

• Preface Abbreviations Introduction: traditional Chinese fiction commentary in context Part I. A Brief History of Chinese Fiction Commentary: 1. Mr. Pingdian: Jin Shengtan and the Shuihu zhuan 2. Dealing with Jin Shengtan and the rest of the 'Four Masterworks' 3. Decline and revival Part II. Making Room for Fiction: 4. Creating implied authors and readers 5. Liberating fiction from history 6. Liberating fiction from 'reality' Part III. From What to Who: The Turn Away from Plot: 7. From plot-centered to character-centered narratives 8. Relational characterization and ambiguos characters Part IV. How to Write the Chinese Novel: 9. Fiction criticism and how the story is told 10. Articulating the parts Part V. Four Solutions to the Challenge of Commentary: 11. Auto-commentary: the Xiyou bu and the Shuihu houzhuan 12. Commentator-narrators: Li Yu, Ding Yaokang, and Wen Kang 13. Latent commentary: the Rulin waishi 14. Everything all at once: the Honglou meng Works cited Glossary-Index.