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The Resurrected Skeleton: From Zhuangzi to Lu Xun
The Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi (369--286 B.C.E.) encountered a skull that later in a dream praises the pleasures of death over the toil of living. This anecdote became popular with poets in the second and third centuries and found renewed significance with the founders of Quanzhen Daoism. These philosophers turned the skull into a skeleton, a metonym for death and a symbol of the refusal of enlightenment. Popular throughout the Ming dynasty (1368--1644) and reenvisioned by the fiction writer Lu Xun (1881--1936), the legend echoes transformations in Chinese philosophy and culture. The first book in English to trace the resurrected skeleton, this text translates major adaptations while drawing parallels to Jesus's encounter with a skull and the European tradition of the Dance of Death.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published February 25, 2014
About the author
Wilt L. Idema
27 books9 followersWilt L. Idema obtained his BA and MA from Leiden University. Following continued study in Sapporo (at Hokkaido University) and in Kyoto (at Kyoto University), and research in Hong Kong (at the Universities Service Center), he returned to Leiden, where he taught in the Department of Chinese Language and Culture. He obtained his doctorate in 1974, and was promoted to Professor of Chinese Literature and Linguistics in 1976. Since 2000, he has been teaching at Harvard as Professor of Chinese Literature. Wilt Idema's research initially was focused on the early development of Chinese vernacular fiction (Chinese Vernacular Fiction: The Formative Period, 1974), but later shifted more towards early Chinese drama (Chinese Theater 1100-1450, A Source Book, with Stephen West; 1982; The Dramatic Oeuvre of Chu Yu-tun (1379-1439), 1985; Wang Shifu, The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing, with Stephen H. West, 1992). In recent years he also has published on Chinese women's literature of the premodern period (The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China, with Beata Grant, 2004). His current research is focused on China's rich tradition of popular narrative ballads. He is also the author, with Lloyd Haft, of A Guide to Chinese Literature (1997). For his voluminous Dutch-language translations, especially of classical Chinese poetry, he received the Martinus Nijhof Award for 1991, the highest distinction for literary translations in the Netherlands.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2014
This book has one of my favourite paintings of all times as it's cover. The Song dynasty painting of a skeleton playing with a skeleton marionette trying to lure some children away. Wilt Idema is one of my favourite literary historians so I was very pleased to find this at SOAS library on a recent visit.
The book doesn't deal with skeletons in general in Chinese literature, rather it looks at different tellings of the story of Zhuangzi finding a skull (later skeleton) and bringing it back to life, using it as a way to talk about the futility of life. Most of the translations are quite late, 17th century and later versions of the story. Unfortunately most of the lessons learned I found quite distasteful. In the first story Zhuangzi meets the skeleton in the road and says all these horrendous things about is, asking if it committed this crime or this sin while it was alive. Never once does he assume that he could have been an innocent victim. Therefore it's kinda not that surprising when the resurrected corpse accuses him of robbery and drags him before the magistrate.
Also included with these stories is the one about Zhangzi tricking his wife into suicide. Basically the story goes that he met a woman who wasn't able to remarry till her husband's grave was dry so she was fanning it to help it dry faster. He told this story to his wife and she thought that was horrible, and said how she would never re-marry if he died. So he faked her death and came back in disguise so she'd accept him as a new husband and then revealed himself and she was so ashamed she committed suicide! So women were considered to be Very Bad if they got over their husband's death. Whereas the original story with Zhuangzi and his wife had him banging on a tub being happy when she died as he hadn't been in mourning before she was born so didn't need to be after, but it was just a different stage of existence. The double standard is just really horrific!
Despite the stories not quite being what I hoped for this was still a very interesting collection and gave a good example of how the stories changed over time. Definitely one I'd recommend.
The book doesn't deal with skeletons in general in Chinese literature, rather it looks at different tellings of the story of Zhuangzi finding a skull (later skeleton) and bringing it back to life, using it as a way to talk about the futility of life. Most of the translations are quite late, 17th century and later versions of the story. Unfortunately most of the lessons learned I found quite distasteful. In the first story Zhuangzi meets the skeleton in the road and says all these horrendous things about is, asking if it committed this crime or this sin while it was alive. Never once does he assume that he could have been an innocent victim. Therefore it's kinda not that surprising when the resurrected corpse accuses him of robbery and drags him before the magistrate.
Also included with these stories is the one about Zhangzi tricking his wife into suicide. Basically the story goes that he met a woman who wasn't able to remarry till her husband's grave was dry so she was fanning it to help it dry faster. He told this story to his wife and she thought that was horrible, and said how she would never re-marry if he died. So he faked her death and came back in disguise so she'd accept him as a new husband and then revealed himself and she was so ashamed she committed suicide! So women were considered to be Very Bad if they got over their husband's death. Whereas the original story with Zhuangzi and his wife had him banging on a tub being happy when she died as he hadn't been in mourning before she was born so didn't need to be after, but it was just a different stage of existence. The double standard is just really horrific!
Despite the stories not quite being what I hoped for this was still a very interesting collection and gave a good example of how the stories changed over time. Definitely one I'd recommend.
March 5, 2018
This was a very interesting book! The introduction gave us an overview of the stories of the skull and Zhuangzi's wife's death in the Zhuangzi itself, as well as an overview of some of the stories that were inspired by the original stories. The rest of the book gave full translations of those stories. The appendix also featured some translations of shorter works that focused on contemplation over a skeleton, many of which we know are only fragments. I did not know that lamentation over a skeleton was a somewhat popular topic in Chinese literature. I would like to look at this topic in other cultures as well and see how similar and different it is compared to the works translated here.
The story I enjoyed reading the most was the modern parody by Lu Xun. While the other stories painted the Zhuangzi in a wonderful light and the skeleton in a terrible light, Lu Xun's version gives the skeleton a more sympathetic character. I liked this because it's much more realistic. In reality, human beings are human beings, with minds and experiences of their own that only they know and which they cannot share. The skeleton reacted to Zhuangzi's act as a normal human being would react: with confusion and desperation. It's also ironic how Zhuangzi tells the skeleton that the skeleton should not worry about having clothes, since that's not how anyone is going to leave the world, but says that HE needed his clothes in order to meet with some official. In the end, Zhuangzi never turns the skeleton back into a skeleton, which I thought was an interesting diversion from the other stories, where he DOES turn them back. So the skeleton is on his own to live in a world 500 years after his time, never really knowing how he got there.
I. Two Narrative Daoqing
Du Hui's "Master Zhuang Sighs over the Skeleton in Northern and Southern Lyrics and Songs" (written by at least 1626)
Ding Yaokang's (1599-1671) "Master Zhuang Lamenting the Skeleton"
II. One Late Ming Play
Wang Yinglin's (d. 1644) "Free and Easy Roaming" (written in the chuanqi genre)
III. One Youth Book
Chunshuzhai's "The Butterfly Dream" (written in the zidishu genre, in the 1600s, I believe)
IV. One Precious Scroll
"The Precious Scroll of Master Zhuang's Butterfly Dream and Skeleton" (writer unknown, written in the baojuan genre, and not sure when)
V. One Modern Parody
Lu Xun's (or Zhou Shuren, 1881-1936) "Raising the Dead"
Appendix I. Three Rhapsodies
Zhang Heng's "Rhapsody on the Skull" (likely complete)
Cao Zhi's "Discourse on the Skull"
Lü An's "Rhapsody on the Skull"
Appendix II. Twenty-One Lyrics
Luo Qing's "Twenty-One Pure Sound Lyrics Lamenting the World and Alerting the Frivolous"
Appendix 3. Ten Skeletons
"The Ten Skeletons"
The story I enjoyed reading the most was the modern parody by Lu Xun. While the other stories painted the Zhuangzi in a wonderful light and the skeleton in a terrible light, Lu Xun's version gives the skeleton a more sympathetic character. I liked this because it's much more realistic. In reality, human beings are human beings, with minds and experiences of their own that only they know and which they cannot share. The skeleton reacted to Zhuangzi's act as a normal human being would react: with confusion and desperation. It's also ironic how Zhuangzi tells the skeleton that the skeleton should not worry about having clothes, since that's not how anyone is going to leave the world, but says that HE needed his clothes in order to meet with some official. In the end, Zhuangzi never turns the skeleton back into a skeleton, which I thought was an interesting diversion from the other stories, where he DOES turn them back. So the skeleton is on his own to live in a world 500 years after his time, never really knowing how he got there.
I. Two Narrative Daoqing
Du Hui's "Master Zhuang Sighs over the Skeleton in Northern and Southern Lyrics and Songs" (written by at least 1626)
Ding Yaokang's (1599-1671) "Master Zhuang Lamenting the Skeleton"
II. One Late Ming Play
Wang Yinglin's (d. 1644) "Free and Easy Roaming" (written in the chuanqi genre)
III. One Youth Book
Chunshuzhai's "The Butterfly Dream" (written in the zidishu genre, in the 1600s, I believe)
IV. One Precious Scroll
"The Precious Scroll of Master Zhuang's Butterfly Dream and Skeleton" (writer unknown, written in the baojuan genre, and not sure when)
V. One Modern Parody
Lu Xun's (or Zhou Shuren, 1881-1936) "Raising the Dead"
Appendix I. Three Rhapsodies
Zhang Heng's "Rhapsody on the Skull" (likely complete)
Cao Zhi's "Discourse on the Skull"
Lü An's "Rhapsody on the Skull"
Appendix II. Twenty-One Lyrics
Luo Qing's "Twenty-One Pure Sound Lyrics Lamenting the World and Alerting the Frivolous"
Appendix 3. Ten Skeletons
"The Ten Skeletons"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews