A Tower for the Summer Heat

A collection of stories, including "House of Gathered Refinements," and "The Cloud-Scraper," by the seventeenth-century Chinese playwright and essayist

As he did in Li Yu's The Carnal Prayer Mat, Hanan, a Harvard professor of Chinese literature, fluidly translates Li Yu's 17th-century Chinese stories into English for the first time. This collection of novella-length parables illustrates lessons for life and love. Each of the six stories begins with an epigrammatic summary followed by a brief poem, and is concluded by a short critique. Despite that ornate setting, the heart of the parables is Li Yu's lyric prose as he weaves deceptively accessible stories. The plots are simple--the experiences of a young man who uses a telescope to spy on women and select a bride, courting her by exploiting the secret knowledge his long-distance vision gives him; the life of a con man; or the separation by fate and Mongol invasion of a loving family and their serendipitous reunification--but Li Yu's voice, characterized by deft moralizing and self-satisfied yet tongue-in-cheek humor, exalt these tales above the mundane. Readers who get caught up in the narrative momentum will have no trouble believing they are in 17th-century China, listening to a wizened man impart the wisdom of the elders.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A spirited, enchanting collection of stories from the 17th- century Chinese playwright and raconteur in a vivid translation, the first in English: a fitting companion to Li Yu's acclaimed erotic satire The Carnal Prayer Mat (1990). Although the original text from which these six spicy tales were taken contained a dozen stories, the full measure of Li Yu's wit comes through in Hanan's selection. Each narrative begins with a short poetic introduction and commentary and concludes with a quick critique, in a style typical of the day, but the distinctive ribald nature of this assortment soon becomes apparent. The title story follows a young man using the latest in modern technology--a telescope--to spy on his neighbors in search of an acceptably pretty wife, whom he proceeds to win by tapping his secret knowledge of her to make her think him omniscient, then tricking her father into agreeing to the match. Other tales are built on similarly delightful subterfuge, whether through the manipulations of an audacious con artist, the scourge of all China, who finally decides to lead a righteous and holy life but first dupes a pair of rich benefactors into building his temple; or through the wiles of a young rake gratefully unburdened of an ugly wife by her early death, who pursues the most beautiful girl in the area and her equally lovely maid/companion, winning them both after having turned his attentions from the former to the latter, a sharp- witted, practical woman who knows what she wants and how to get it. Subtle comedies of marriage and Chinese society, these give charming evidence of a true master's touch, easily bridging more than 300 years to be fresh and vibrant today. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.