Las venganzas de los espíritus

by Yan Zhitui, Yan Zhitui

Rare book

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Yan Zhitui (Chinese: 顏之推; pinyin: Yán Zhītuī; Wade–Giles: Yen Chih-T'ui, 531–591) was a Chinese calligrapher, painter, musician, writer and politician who served four different Chinese states during the late Southern and Northern Dynasties: the Liang Dynasty in southern China, the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou Dynasties of northern China, and their successor state that reunified China, the Sui Dynasty. Yan Zhitui was a supporter of Buddhism in China despite criticism by many of his Confucian-taught peers. Yan was also the first person in history to mention the use of toilet paper.

Reviews

[Aroa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Púxenme a ler este libro para coñecer mellor o mundo dos espíritos e resulta que non existe tal cousa, pois o seu mundo é tamén o noso mundo. Os espíritos interactúan, relaciónanse, matan, intiman e ata rematan aquelas tarefas que deixaron pendentes en vida. Este último punto é o máis importante, pois explica ese desexo imparable de vinganza e de xustiza que os caracteriza como entes senlleiros do máis alá. A temática de todos os contos é bastante cíclica e todos comparten os tópicos literarios a partires dos cales argallan o microrrelato: axustizar a alguén por ter feito algo moi malo ou por xulgar a alguén deixándose levar polas paixóns humanas, o viño como elemento que corrompe, as mulleres como feiticeiras e trapalleiras que acaban sendo a perdición dos homes poderosos... En resumo, este libro dá conta de todo o que caracteriza aos espíritos e non se quedou curto na descrición das mortes máis macabras.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I randomly found this book while I was in the SOAS library. It's a lovely translation of a 6th century book of ghost stories. It has a brief introduction to the stories, talking about their provenance and the author. The stories are literary rather than literal translations to be read and understood by non-specialists though the author includes some translation notes at the end of the stories.

The only problem with this book is it uses the Gwoyeu Romatzyh system of romanization of Chinese characters. Now I'm pretty good at Wade Giles and Pinyin but this was totally mad. I just couldn't figure out what most of the words were supposed to be. This took away a lot of enjoyment for me as it felt like I was back reading another culture's work and not something that I was familiar with. Which was quite disappointing.

The stories themselves were quite good. Some I liked better than others. There were 64 stories in all. What was surprisng was the vast number of stories about court. Most of the ghost stories I've read from later periods in Chinese history tend not to focus on the very high elite but are more about the lives of ordinary people, or at the very best litarati or local government officals. It was interesting to see the stories told on a national level. There could be some interseting analysis of this. The stories being told to show how justice was eventually reached even if it wasn't meted out correctly in the first place. The stories were very much of the no bad deed goes un-punished variety. Another thing that was interesting was how sometimes it would take years after the person saw the ghost for them to die. It was like the ghost had been inserted into a historical story. My favourite stories were the ones that were about ordinary people. A girl who was executed for being a bandit when she wasn't, a woman haunting an inn, a ghost who threw his clothes in the air so people could find his body. The lower stories were more interseting as they seemed to divert the most from the official histories.

I'm very glad I found this book in the library as it's £100 on abebooks. I think I will scan my favourite stories before giving it back.