The tale of Li Wa: Study and critical edition of a Chinese story from the ninth century

by Glen Dudbridge

red cloth, gilt lettering, dust jacket, 204 pp

204 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1983

Reviews

[Mel]

The tale of Li Wa is one of my favourite stories. It's about a young man who goes to the Capital and falls in love with a courtesan, after a year he runs out of money and there's an elaborate ploy to get rid of him, he falls ill from grief and becomes a mourner, he's beaten and ends up a beggar. Eventually he discovers the woman he was in love with. She takes pity on him, and gives him the money to study and take the exams and he becomes an official. It's a wonderful story as the woman has all the agency, she's financially independent (thanks to having been a prostitute) and is able to save the man she destroyed. The story is from the 9th century.

Dudbrige considers the earliest version of the story, textual transmission, origins, development, feminist implications and variants over time. He offers a line by line annotated translation of the story with variants shown. The only criticism is that he seems to be a little too interested in the original text rather than seeing it as a progression. Still it is a fascinating study of a wonderful story.