The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei: Vol. 1, The Gathering [Paperback]

David Tod Roy (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691016143 | ISBN-13: 978-0691016146 | Publication Date: March 17, 1997

In this first of a planned five-volume set, David Roy provides a complete and annotated translation of the famous Chin P'ing Mei, an anonymous sixteenth-century Chinese novel that focuses on the domestic life of Hsi-men Ch'ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant in a provincial town, who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines. This work, known primarily for its erotic realism, is also a landmark in the development of the narrative art form--not only from a specifically Chinese perspective but in a world-historical context.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Reading Roy's translation is a remarkable experience.

From The New Yorker

What Roy has already accomplished [in this volume] is enough to establish his translation as definitive.... A tremendous achievement.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 714 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (March 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691016143
• ISBN-13: 978-0691016146
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #313,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American
  • #56 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Chinese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Plot - Superb Translation, May 8, 2001

By 

Xoe Li Lu "xoelilu" (Sea Girt, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei: Vol. 1, The Gathering (Paperback)

David Tod Roy's translation of the classic 16th century Chin P'ing Mei is awesome and right on the money. The story leaps off the pages - this is how this famous vernacular Chinese novel was meant to be read! Every element of the story is clear and concise in Roy's translation, allowing the reader to enjoy the plot and the fascinating characters.

To briefly discuss the storyline, Chin P'ing Mei is a "spin off" from the classic Chinese novel Outlaws of the Marsh, and focuses on the trials and tribulations of the conniving seductress Pan Chin-lien and the new life she leads after murdering her husband. Some scholars of Chinese traditional literature will not like this allusion, but the story reads like a modern-day soap opera. The characters are lusty and scheming, and the general climate is electric. The general plot follows the intricate daily triumphs and frustrations of Hsi-Men Ching and his `harem" of six wives and concubines (among them Pan Chin-lien). The story is rife with inter-household competition, infidelity, corruption, domestic abuse and eroticism. Characters are well developed, and the scenery is vivid. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the merchant class in 16th century China. It is easy to see how this novel has captured audiences for 400 years - and David Tod Roy's excellent translation will no doubt help it to endure for many more years to come.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a short review, August 1, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei: Vol. 1, The Gathering (Paperback)

David Tod Roy has done Chinese literature proud by producing a scrupulously exact translation of this classic in Chinese erotica. Like what a previous reviewer says, it is "clear and precise", bringing out the naturalistic details of the novel fully to the reader; yet, for all its accuracy, it reads exceptionally well. For introduction, Roy has written a well-argued essay on why Jin-Ping Mei should be read as didactic literature, not as mere erotica, as it has for centuries. Jin-Ping-Mei's checkered history in Chinese literature doesn't disguise the fact that it is a very well written (and detailed) account of the rise and fall of an extended household, made obvious by corruption and its list of licentious dealings (both in Ximen Qing and his harem).

76 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Roy has deceived us; he is not going to finish it., June 10, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Door County WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei: Vol. 1, The Gathering (Paperback)

This will be more of a commentary than a review, and a sad commentary at that. Arthur Waley many years ago offered a translation of the Chin Ping Mei that was, at least at that time, a wonderful introduction to this most facinating epic. For many years, until my copy became dog-eared and worn, a number of people were introduced to Chinese literature by my old copy of the Chin Ping Mei and invariably were most thankful for the experience.

Then, after a few other efforts by various academics,about which the reviews were mixed enough to not entice me to replace my Arthur Waley copy, David Roy came up with his return to a poetic renditioning: The Plum in the Golden Vase. I bought it; I read it and I was sunk. This is THE translation. This is, I am sure, as close as we are going to get to the Chinese poetry of the original. Wait! We are not going to get this translation after all. Dr. Roy is too old to complete what he started( this, according to his publisher after I dug around in the Princton Press and bothered them month after month, year after year). This sad fact came to light after the publication date for volume two, which had been projected for l995 or some such, had passed by without the faintest hint of when we would get that next volume.

I had been hoping that David Tod Roy was a young and vigorous thirty-something. This man is in his sixties or seventies and he projects another four volumes! I also am in my seventies and at the rate of publication I will be in my nineties by the last volume. I can't believe that this man will be inspired to erotica with the same verve at ninety that he was when he started his translation. I speak for myself as well as Dr.Roy.

The fact is that I feel deceived: I have had a delicious first course, the wine is in the decanter and I have had my first tentative sip and now everything stops; the vegetables grow limp, the sauces cool and congeal. I know what this cook is capable of producing yet I feel certain that I will never finish this feast, never savor t! he wines, all of which I can see faintly in the distant kitchen and serving rooms. How sad and disappointing. Don't buy this book.