Volume 20, Number 21 & 22 · January 24, 1974
Ming Minx
By Cyril Birch
The Golden Lotus
translated by Colonel Clement Egerton
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1,572, 4 vols. pp., $35.00
The Golden Lotus, written in the late sixteenth century, is one of the great novels of premodern China. The reader who takes up this translation expecting to be charmed for a few hours by the tranquil grace of the Old China, or by long gone courtly amours in the manner of the Japanese Tale of Genji, is in for a shattering experience. The Golden Lotus is about human depravity. It explores the seamy underside of the gorgeous brocade robe, the meanness and corruption of Chinese society during the late Ming period.
Review, 1577 words
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