Customer Reviews

Myths and Legends of China

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you are looking for a book of Chinese short stories, keep looking. The author is a Sociologist and looks at Chinese myths and legends from this stand point. The beginning of the book is about the origins and traditions of China. He then goes on to write about the myths/legends and adds his interpretations and social influences through out the story. Good for Sociologists but not the best for leisure reading.

To appreciate this book you must take it with a grain of salt (or several). The author is a an old school orientalist, writing in the days when the Chinese Empire still had an emperor and was thoroughly infilitrated by colonial powers (fyi, thats before WWII). To a modern reader Werner seems condescending, but you can tell he has a genuine love for Chinese culture and people even when he is moralizing about the failures of their society at the time. In any event, the depth and breadth of the compilation of myths and tales is excellent, as is the historical context that the author provides. The only flaw is that the order and index is not quite as clear as you might like - several tales are told together in a single chapter, and references to characters in other tales are not always clear due to the numerous names used for some mythological figures. If you can get a version with the original color prints, its a real plus.

The first part is more like a wikipedia page telling you how the country came to be. It explains their government, religion, marriages, and other facts. It then talks about how myths are created and then about philosophers and their beliefs. I had to stop of 20% of the book cause of how bored I was. I thought I would be reading about myths like "sasquatch" or the "jersey devil". Do not waste your time if you are looking for myths and legends, but read on if you want to learn about their history.

The good thing about this text is the sheer number of mythological stories and folktales which have been translated. Many of the stories are rarely translated and they include a great deal of traditional Chinese folk religion, Taoist, and Confuscinist stories. The immortals, and many rare Taoist tales, are represented here--which is remarkable and useful for well-versed scholars of Chinese mythology and Taoism.

The (very) bad thing about this text is that most of the volume is taken up by the author's unbridled, negative personal commentary on Chinese religion, beliefs, and culture. I know, it sounds strange, especially since he chose to translate and publish a text on Chinese culture, but nevertheless, I am not the only student of Chinese culture and history who has noticed this about "Myths and Legends of China."

I found myself reacting with surprise to many of E.T.C. Werner's snide, offhanded, completely ungrounded observations--many of which are rooted in nothing more than his attempt to discredit Chinese customs and religious beliefs. Even understanding the era in which the book was written, I had to keep swallowing salt to press through the introduction.

I teach courses on Chinese Taoism and Chinese Mythology and I always warn my students to take the entire book gently and to let some of the commentary bounce off. Just ignore the commentary and try to press on.

It does lead me to wonder how many of the stories have been altered to fit Werner's views... not unlike Bulfinch's "abridgment" of some of the Greek and Roman myths which contained concepts like homosexuality, that he disliked.

I should add that the first review posted on this product is correct--Werner is a classical orientalist, and the book is a product of a very specific time frame and state of mind. It absolutely contains rare stories which are underrepresented in other texts, including many tales of Immortals, Chinese folk religions, etc.

My two-star rating still sticks, as I only think this book is useful for scholars who can recognize the "orientalism" for what it is, and cut right through to the valuable stories, or for scholars trying to illustrate what "orientalism" was all about.

It's not good for the casual reader of Chinese folk tales.

E. T. C. Werner speaks about Chinese myths and legends, but does not offer the myths themselves, at least as far as I got in the book. He starts by offering his views of the history and sociology of China so that readers can better appreciate the tales. He states that no one knows the begining history of China and where the Chinese people came from. However, he offers us quite a few theories of their origin. He describes many Chinese customs, including marriage and the status of women in China. He also talks about the relationship between parents and children, the political history of the country, its national and local laws, military system, professional institutions, schools, funeral rites, pigtails, sex, dragons, sports, domestic life, industries, arts, moral ideas, opium, superstitions, languages, and pratices such as bodily mutilations. Most of these details are presented in a tedious and boring manner. This is the first chapter, representing twelve percent of the book.

He then discusses Chinese mythothogy, its history, the influence of religion upon it, its characteristics, its sources. This takes up another four percent of the book. In chapter three, he discuses the creation myth of the Chinese. He does not present the tales, but talks about them, as he talked about the history of the country, and in the same manner. In chapter four, he speaks about the gods of China and about the soul. We now finish twenty percent of the book. It was at this point that I abandoned the book.

Filled with intellectual babble and snide personal comments of the Chinese culture, this author definitely sheds an angry light on Chinese culture. If you must buy this book head straight to the stories because the first half of this book is more suited for the opinion section of a newspaper and will leave a bad taste in your mouth.