The dragon daughter and other Lin Lan fairy tales / edited and translated by Juwen Zhang ; foreword by Jack Zipes.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Zhang, Juwen, editor, translator.

Zipes, Jack, writer of foreword.

Series:

Oddly modern fairy tales ; Volume 24.

Oddly Modern Fairy Tales ; Volume 24

Language:

Chinese

English

Subjects (All):

Lin Lan (Literary story writer).

Lin Lan.

Folklore--China--History--20th century.

Folklore.

Fairy tales--China--History--20th century.

Fairy tales.

Humorous stories, Chinese--20th century.

Humorous stories, Chinese.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"A delightful collection of modern Chinese tales, The Dragon Daughter and Other Lin Lan Fairy Tales brings together forty-two magical Chinese tales, most appearing for the first time in English. These stories have been carefully selected from more than a thousand originally published in the early twentieth century under the pseudonyms Lin Lan and Lady Lin Lan-previously unknown in the West, but now acclaimed as the Brothers Grimm of China.The birth of the tales began in 1924, when one author, Li Xiaofeng, published a set of literary stories under the Lin Lan pen name, an alias that would eventually be shared by an editorial team. Together, this group gathered fairy tales (tonghua) from rural regions across China. Combining traditional oral Chinese narratives with elements from the West, the selections in this collection represent different themes and genres-from folk legends to comic tales. Characters fall for fairies, experience predestined love, and have love/hate relationships with siblings. Cooking girls transform from garden snails and snakes, and dragon daughters construct houses. An introduction offers historical and social context for understanding the role that the Lin Lan stories played in modern China. Appendixes include information on tale types and biographies of the writers and contributors. A reflection of Chinese culture, history, and values, The Dragon Daughter and Other Lin Lan Fairy Tales is a captivating testament to the power of storytelling"-- Provided by publisher.

"Although the influence of the Brothers Grimm on folklore in virtually every country in the West has been widely studied, a similar development in the early part of twentieth-century China is virtually unknown. This book collects and translates more than 40 tales selected from the "Lin Lan" series, published in China from the late 1920s to the early 1930s. The pseudonym "Lin Lan" was created in 1924, when a group of three literary stories about the legendary Xu Wenchang (1521-1593), himself the author of many literary works still popular today, were published in a morning newspaper. The success of this first attempt encouraged the creators to publish more folk tales and fairy tales, which ultimately played a major role in the development of modern folk literature in China. The series, written and developed by a Shanghai publisher under the pen name Lin Lan, was divided into three subgenres-minjian chuanshuo (folk legends/tales), minjian tonghua (folk fairy tales), and minjian qushi (comic folk tales)-published in 43 volumes containing nearly one thousand tales in all. The tales were collected the tales from oral storytellers throughout China in response to a call from the publisher, and combined elements of European fairy-tale literature with traditional Chinese narratives"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

33. After Replacing the Heart

34. The Hairy Girl on the Pine Tree

35. The Shedding Winter Plum

36. Old Wolf

37. Old Wolf 's Wife

38. Brother Moon and Sister Sun

39. The Ghost Brother

40. The One-LeggedChild

41. The Fairy Cave

42. Increasing Fortune and Snatching Fortune

Bibliographic Sources and Tale Types

Bibliography

Biographical Notes on Important Writers and Contributors

15. Spouses from Two Worlds

16. The Peasant's Wife

17. The Marriage of a Human and a Ghost

18. The Ghost Marriage

19. Golden Frog

20. The Toad Son

21. The Chicken Egg

22. No Giving Up before Seeing the Yellow River

23. The Reward of the Snake

24. Everyone Is Content

Part Three. The Hatred and Love of Siblings

25. The Two Brothers

26. The Yellow Bag

27. The Two Sisters

28. The Elder Daughter

29. The Three Brothers

30. Elder Brother and Younger Brother

31. The Melon King

Part Four. Other Odd Tales

32. The Weird Brothers

Cover

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Jack zipes

Introduction: Rediscovering Fairy Tales in China

Part One. Love with a Fairy

1. The Dragon Daughter

2. The Golden Pin

3. The Fisherman's Lover

4. The Silkworm

5. On the Celestial Riverbank

6. The Flute Player

7. The Pheasant Feather Cloak

8. The Sea Dragon King

9. The Celestial Fairy

10. The Daughter of the Dragon King of the Sea

Part Two. Predestined Love

11. The Paper Bride

12. The Human-Bear's Death for Love

13. The Snake Spirit

14. The Garden Snake

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691225067

0691225060

OCLC:

1281784640