The Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan) is one of the most surprising classics of Chinese literature. Many books in the west have portrayed Asia, and China in particular, as being a place where people blend in, go along to get along, or submit to authority out of Confucian filial piety. This is not one of those books. This book is a riot of rebellious violence, subversive vulgarity, bouyant indulgence and righteous indignation. It is a celebration of a society of individuals and their complex relationships.
The basic story follows a series of characters who for various reasons fall from grace with the powers that be, sometimes through no fault of their own, but often through their own rapacious appetites. They each find themselves pushed by a mix of circumstance and necessity, to the marshes of Mount Liang, where they unite to form a notorious gang of bandits, waging outright war against a corrupt bureaucracy.
As this novel defies stereotypes of traditional Chinese culture, it also presents one of the most complex and ambivalent portraits of heroism in literature. The bandits in the Water Margin are not merely "Robin Hood in China" though some that is stolen form the rich is indeed given to the poor, they are each complex individuals with their own motivations, often in contradiction with their comrades and themselves.
This translation, furthermore, is an excellent way to get to know the novel. Many earlier translations either bowdlerized or censored the more vulgar and ignoble content, or politicized the work, attempting to impose bland moral conformity on a work that's principle insight was the moral complexity of human beings. This translation restores the text to its original form, and updates translational conventions to modern standards.
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Excelente libro!
En mi país no hay acceso fácil para este tipo de libros, existe la versión en español de Rodolfo Lastra, pero no es buena.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024
En mi país no hay acceso fácil para este tipo de libros, existe la versión en español de Rodolfo Lastra, pero no es buena.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2022
"The Watermargin," a thrilling journey into the politics, morality, and values of Song Dynasty China
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2019Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2013
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Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2014
