For more than a century and a half, Dream of the Red Chamber has been recognized in China as the greatest of its novels, a Chinese Romeo-and-Juliet love story and a portrait of one of the world's great civilizations. Chi-chen Wang's translation is skillful, accurate and fascinating.
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Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Chinese
Original Language: Chinese
From the Publisher
For more than a century and a half, Dream Of The Red Chamber has been recognized in China as the greatest of its novels, a Chinese Romeo-and-Juliet love story and a portrait of one of the world's great civilizations. Chi-chen Wang's translation is skillful, accurate and fascinating.
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89 of 92 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Although this translation is concise and contained in one volume, the Penguin Books publication of this work (in that version, titled first as "Story of the Stone") is an infinitely better translation - the poetry is kept intact and the story is in full, instead of condensed for speed. In addition, the maids - who frequently outnumber the mistresses and masters in the plot line - are introduced to the reader with names in English, which makes the story a little easier to follow.
If you really like this story and have not read the unabridged version, please do yourself a favor and find the Penguin publications. I love this novel, but there are better translations.
56 of 57 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The 18th century novel, Hongloumeng, remains the greatest Chinese novel ever written, unsurpassed in its depiction of individuals and families, human striving, and stellar literary values. It may be read on many levels, as a love story or social history, as a philosophical musing on the futility of human existence, and a repository of Chinese artistic and literary values. The translation under review is a sharply abridged version that advances the plot line by eliminating many of the minor characters, most of the poetry, and a great deal of the detailed descriptions of daily life in an upper class Chinese family. Those seeking a full appreciation of the novel, especially its literary value, should turn to the full translation, which goes by the title Story of the Stone. However, the full complete translation is a multivalued piece, almost 2,000 pages in length. What you get with this translation is a good feel for the main characters, especially the love triangle, and for the social dynamics within the family. The result in a lovely read that will inspire you to compare this abridge version with a fuller version to see what you missed. I still use this translation in my history courses, but I use it for social history. My colleagues in literature prefer to use volume 1 of the Story of the Stone for their classes.
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Chi-Chen Wang published an abridged translation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" (also known as "A Dream of Red Mansions" and "The Story of the Stone") in 1929; in 1958 he extensively expanded and revised his translation, to about 550 pages in length. This is only a fraction of the Chinese text, which runs more than three times this length. The next year, Anchor (a subsidiary of Doubleday, which is now owned by Bantam) published this translation in paperback -- but had abridged it, to less than 300 pages! It's a very skillful translation, but a more drastic abridgement than the publisher acknowleges.
I would look at the Penguin edition (translated as "The Story of the Stone," in five volumes) or the edition published by the Chinese Government (translated as "A Dream of Red Mansions," in three volumes) rather than this one.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really Good Book!
I needed this book for my east asian civilization class and I was already dreading reading a required book. This book is actually really well written. Read more
Published 3 months ago by TakeaChance
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE Chinese novel
If you don't read another Chinese novel, this one will complete your experience. It is the quintissential story of family life in China.
Published on June 26, 2009 by Rita D. Roth
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Story, Flawed Version
China's most famous and beloved novel is The Dream of the Red Chamber (also known as The Story of the Stone or Hong Lou Meng). Read more
Published on February 29, 2008 by Litr8r
5.0 out of 5 stars
Completion of worldly duty and seeing through dust-stained world
The much anticipated concluding volume of the epic (if readers have persevered and made this far) settles the fate of our protagonist Jia Baoyu and expounds the nature of passion... Read more
Published on November 21, 2005 by Matthew M. Yau
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical, Cultural, and Dramatic!
I love this book. People compare it to Romeo and Juliet but I say that it is far better as far as the storyline goes. Great book!
Published on October 13, 2005 by Nicole A. Escobar
4.0 out of 5 stars
It is not the books fault...
The story is great
The book is wonderful offering a glimpse into a world that people in the west can hardly understand anymore ect, ect. Read more
The book is wonderful offering a glimpse into a world that people in the west can hardly understand anymore ect, ect. Read more
Published on April 11, 2005 by General Pete
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's not about Romeo and Juliet
It's sad to know that most western readers regard this novel as a Chinese Romeo and Juliet story. This over-simplified conclusion misleads people and kills the greatness of the... Read more
Published on March 26, 2005 by Faye Wang
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marvelous
This is a truly wonderful book. This is truly a universal story, on one level, the story of undying love, a real soap opera with two girls competing for one boy. Read more
Published on January 10, 2005 by Margaret Dybala
5.0 out of 5 stars
Please learn Chinese before you read this story
I am a Chinese student. Dream of the Red Chamber is my favorite novel, and it is definitely one of the greatest novel in the world. Read more
Published on February 18, 2004 by Li Tan
5.0 out of 5 stars
novels are the best way to learn history
This novel allows the reader to enter a world that is almost entirely alien, giving a window not only into courtly aristocratic life in the Qing dynasty, but also into religious... Read more
Published on April 8, 2001 by Robert J. Crawford
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