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kalika22's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sombrerohawse's review against another edition
4.0
averywindyday's review against another edition
Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies translated and edited by Moss Roberts contains a vast collection of fairy tales with a wide range of content materials. For example, there are depictions of magical transformations, ghosts, and parables. As is typical of fairy tales, the collection demonstrates elements of the supernatural while also providing examples of both criticisms and defenses of societal norms.
Moss Roberts includes an introduction to the collection that briefly illuminates how the contrasting philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism are supported and contested within the differing stories featured within the collection. This introduction acts as the main piece of informational text in the book. For most of the collection, there is not any paratext in the form of footnotes or endnotes. The sole exemption to the lack of footnotes can found in the final section, entitled "An Unofficial History of the Confucian Academy." The text is interspersed with illustrations from the Ming encyclopedia Compendium of Illustrations for the Three Orders in Heaven, Earth, and Man (1608) that match the content of the corresponding text. There is also a brief note detailing the process of the translations of the source materials at the end of the book.
bhargavi_lawbookskettlebells's review against another edition
4.25
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
2.0
I'm unable to express the entirety of my thoughts here in only English, so forgive me for the few, seemingly random Chinese words. A different language just doesn't seem to convey the same depth of intention and meaning, and I realize that even more so after reading this collection.
To put it bluntly, reading Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies in English is boring. I don't know how true the translations are to the original language, but as I translate them again into Chinese (Mandarin to be exact), I find them infinitely more interesting and poetic. Now, this might just be my choice of words when translating, but I also can't help thinking that the translation might have stripped away too much of the beauty of the original language.
I'm not unfamiliar with Asian folklore, myths and such so this collection containing a lot of ιη (principles/reasoning) and ιεΎ· (morals) isn't odd. However, it can be rather repetitive and at some parts, silly (which, to be fair, isn't unexpected). I didn't care for many of the shorter pieces too. So yeah, this collection wasn't all that enjoyable or interesting to me.
ravenkiller88's review against another edition
2.0
It wasn't really as great as I'd hope it'd be. I was expecting some of the myths/legends/folktales that I've read when I was younger. Such as Hou Yi and the Ten Suns, Tale of the White Snake, Butterfly Lovers, and more.
Though the stories do contain moral teachings, but the way the stories were written/translated are somewhat dry. I think some sarcasm/humor that was portrayed by the original authors, got lost in translation.