Novel
The Plum in the Golden Vase
金瓶梅
Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng · 1596
Synopsis
Under the Northern Song, in Qinghe, Ximen Qing, a merchant enriched by dishonest means and a great lover of pleasures, already has four wives when he takes Pan Jinlian as his fifth, after poisoning her husband, Wu Dalang, together with her. By bribing the magistrate, he escapes the vengeance of the dead man's brother, who is exiled. A sixth wife, Li Ping'er, gives him an heir, while the household, full of maidservants, lives to the rhythm of its master's pleasures and wine.
Context
The novel circulated in manuscript as early as 1596. Its first printed edition dates from 1610 (from 1617 according to Britannica), and the annotated edition by Zhang Zhupo, in 1695, became the most widely read. The story starts from an episode of Au bord de l'eau, in which Wu Song avenges his brother by killing the two lovers; here, the merchant survives this vengeance. The explicit scenes make up less than three per cent of a text of more than a million words, but the book was long banned or censored for its eroticism. André Lévy translated it into French in 1985, from the 1610 edition.
Who it is for
A very long novel, published in two volumes in the Pléiade; a few erotic scenes remain explicit.
Prizes and reception
Regarded by Britannica as the first Chinese realist social novel, it became, despite censorship, one of the most widely read in the country.
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