The Story of the Stone, Vol. 2: The Crab-Flower Club

Reviewers often comment on this volume being completely immersive in the minutiae of the daily rituals of the ladies and their maids. I have completely lost myself in this book in the way that I see others reading "Twilight" or "Fifty Shades of Grey" - I have stopped calling and emailing loved ones, and I have stolen more time than possible at work to read this as an ebook. This volume primarily concerns a gilded year at the Rong-Guo mansion. With the Prospect Garden's original purpose nullified (the imperial concubine has no visits scheduled for at least the next year and a half), Bao-yu and all the girls move in and devote themselves to poetry and day long entertainments consisting of crab, rice wine, painting, riddles, actors, and firecrackers. Behind the scenes there is infighting among the maids and tears all around. It's remarkable how easy it is to keep track of the hundreds of characters, but this volume of the novel benefitted from extensive rewriting, while future volumes are often made obscure by inconsistencies from draft to draft. Having read a drastically abridged version twenty years ago, and having seen the two Shaw Brothers film adaptations (1962 and 1978), I am most impressed by what a nice guy Bao-yu is. I previously thought of him as a spoiled and impetuous brat, but the unabridged version shows how sensitive he is to the needs of his female cousins and maids, whom he treats as his equal. He's charming in his devotion to others, especially when he is late for Xi-feng's disastrous birthday party because he is busy saying prayers for her on the outskirts of town. I marveled at Xi-feng's industrious nature in the first volume, but how quickly she became vain and greedy! I love how the lesser maids talk to her in a way that both flatters her but does not conceal their contempt for her amongst themselves. We have master translator David Hawkes for preserving the subtle intentions of such skillful language. Toward the end we get brought back to reality, first with the dramatic conclusion to Xi-feng's birthday which ends with complete exposure of her marital woes and her beating her maid Precious, her only true confidante. The highest ranking servants benefit greatly from their proximity to their masters, but they are also the first to suffer when something happens. Xi-feng and Lian's marriage is an interesting portrayal of marriage in the ruling class. The wives have to bear the brunt of the work and the burden of their husbands' infidelities, while the servants have to hold secrets or incur their masters' wrath. Another example of the excellent writing and translation: we are always aware of the pecking order in any situation. One more compliment to the translation, we have Chinese names for the ruling family, English translations for the servants (Aroma, Precious, Faithful, Skybright), and French names for the actors (Charmante, Élégante). This helps me keep track of everyone. In this volume we are more privy to the thoughts of major characters such as Bao-yu and Dai-yu, of course, and Aroma, Granny Liu, Precious, Xi-feng, Grandmother and Bao-chai. We continue to see the emotional hardship in the private lives of the maids, such as Aroma's dilemma of whether to return to her family or stay and try to guide Bao-yu to adulthood. We also see the desperation of old women like Granny Liu and Nanny Li, though Granny Liu also has a great few chapters that are among my favorite. I was not prepared for her drunken walk of wonderment around the garden. And after seeing Bao-yu's father exhibit the desire to fit in with the women of the family (particularly his unresponsive mother) during the riddle games of chapter 22, we see him revert back to his worst impulses in chapter 33, giving Bao-yu the beating that is usually one of the big scenes in any of the film adaptations. As unfair and sad as that situation was, I was almost moved to tears reading the touching scene between Dai-yu and Bao-chai when convalescent Dai-yu admitted her own shortcomings and realized that Bao-chai is actually a good friend. So beautifully written! And I was reading with bated breath as the ill Skybright summoned her strength to darn Bao-yu's cape with peacock thread when no one else would try - how does a writer get someone to feel suspense over a thing like darning? This volume ends in a good spot: Cousin Zhen explains how little money is coming in to the Ning-guo house but it is not serious yet. Then he lays out how even less money is coming in to the Rong-guo house and that they have had to start dipping into their capital to pay for all their expenditures! He doesn't even know how much they've been spending, but we do: paying off Golden's family following her suicide, building the Prospect Garden, buying painting supplies for Xi-chun to make paintings of the garden, a mass influx of Xing/Xue/Wang in-laws, huge outlays for parties, including foolishness such as bringing in an acting troupe from the outside even though they have one staying there! Ultimately, what is it all for? (SPOILERS AHEAD) Very few outsiders show up for the Rong-guo house's New Year's bash, either due to embarrassment for being poor, illness/old age, or dislike of Xi-feng.

It's kinda silly how much I loved reading this, when spoiled Chinese aristocrats writing poetry really ought to be boring. But then a scene comes along like Bao-chai and Dai-yu exchanging insults disguised as jokes, and Tan-chun speaks up:'Pinch her lips, Chai!' she said. 'You should hear what she's been saying about you.''I don't need to,' said Bao-chai. 'One doesn't expect ivory from a dog's mouth!'And I literally said out loud, "Woof, girl!" and kept on chugging along.Sure, I did miss the really weird parts of Volume I. So much nothing happens in this second volume. But that's okay, because there are also some tremendously tender moments of affection. Bao-yu doting on his maids to keep them warm; Xi-feng and Patience rigging a card game so Grandmother can win; Or Dai-yu taking Caltrop under her wing and making a real poet out of her. For all the back-biting these women and men in the Jia family do, they also express deep love in small, subtle ways.--But, boy, there's also some sudden and violent bursts of life in between. People die or get beaten within an inch of death, and we just move on to the next scene. Constantly moving on forward and forward, with a little growing tinge of melancholy left behind in the background. And it's that satisfying mix of fantasy, realism, sweetness, and godawful depression that makes me corny in love for this story.

Compared to other translations of this book, this is by far the easiest, most comprehensible, and most fluid flowing translation out there. Even though it is an English translation, the translation captures the original's intent and purpose, without too much verbosity. And what makes this translation stand out is its inclusion of an appendix that discusses in depth relevant historical facts that the reader may find useful or interesting as they read the novel.One complaint, the poems are not beautifully crafted and a lot of the original's subtle beauties are lost in translation. Both of these complaints are understandable. It is impossible to bring the greatness of this novel in its entirely from one language to another without losses. Though, It is a little sad not being able to fully absorb and enjoy everything the original has to offer. One possible solution, learn Chinese well enough to read the original in its mother language.

A continuation of David Hawkes' beautiful translation of the amazing 18th century Chinese novel begun in Volume I (The Golden Days). This book conveys the immersive feel of entering another culture and another era--it's family structure, etiquette, philosophy, clothing, gardens, poetry, entertainments, rites of passage, sexual mores, and the innumerable small details that bring a culture fully to life. The dialogue continues to sparkle Some chapters have us laughing aloud, others make us feel we have been punched in the gut. Much of this volume concerns the poetry club that the main protagonist and his young female family members and their maids in attendance have established in the garden of their mansion. So in some ways not a lot happens in terms of what one can call "plot." And in other ways, everything--life--unfolds. We get to experience the life of the Jia family and their relatives at the height of their success, before their inevitable decline. This is, after all, Buddhist China, and in Buddhism, everything is about transience.

Nice

Tells you better than a history book about the mores of feudal China.Big families were a state with its prerogatives, submission, The state of women, tough inferior, did not limit their speaking out specially to their class equals. Yes, it can be a boring set of books, but what you learn about pomp and prejudice makes it worthwhile. This volume describes day to day living in family communities.

"Story of the Stone", auch als "Dream of the Red Chamber" bekannt, ist einer, viele Kritikern sagen sogar der wichtigste, der "großen Klassiker" Chinas. Band 2 (von 5) sammelt nun die Kapitel 27 bis 53 und verfolgt weiterhin das Alltagsleben einer mandschurischen aristokratischen Großfamilie. Der Untertitel dieses zweiten Bandes, "The Crab-Flower Club", weist schon darauf hin, wie wenig wirkliche Arbeit diese Menschen zu verrichten haben, und mit welchem Aufwand sie ihre dadurch entstehende Langeweile bekämpfen; bis zu dem Punkt, wo die Feiern, Festchen und gegenseitigen Besuche in Arbeit ausarten, die die Protagonisten kaum mehr bewältigen können. Eine neue dieser Verpflichtungen ist nun der "Crab-Flower Club", ein Dichtclub, der von den Cousins gegründet wird.Sehr interessant und aufschlussreich sind in diesem Band die Kapitel, in denen "Grannie" Liu, eine Bauernfrau, ihre entfernten Verwandten besuchen kommt. Das Aufeinanderprallen des einfachen Landlebens und des ausschweifenden Stadtlebens ist eine gelungene Kritik an der Dekadenz der Aristokratie: Grannie Liu wird wie ein Ausstellungsstück herumgereicht und dient der Belustigung, weil sie so gar nicht in die starre ritualfixierte Etikette passen will. Die Klasse des Autors zeigt sich nun wiederum aber darin, dass die Grannie nicht als Opfer dargestellt wird; sie selbst erkennt ihre Rolle als Hofnarr, und spielt sie mit viel Hintersinn aus. Diese Szenerie könnte auch von Lu Xun stammen, allerdings hätte er dies sicherlich mit mehr Sarkasmus und Sozialkritik geschrieben, wodurch die Leichtigkeit verloren gegangen wäre, die diese Kapitel auszeichnet.Wie schon in Band 1 sind einige knappe Anhänge, die diesmal die chinesischen Reim- und Dominospiele erklären, sowie die bekannten, aber immer noch äußerst hilfreichen Stammbäume vorhanden. Hawkes' Übersetzung ist ein Meisterwerk, und wird nicht durch Fußnoten belastet, die vom Text ablenken. Seine Strategie, unklare Stellen durch Texterweiterungen zu erklären und nicht durch Fußnoten zu erläutern, mag in Bezug auf Texttreue etwas fragwürdig scheinen; doch letztlich macht sie den Roman einmalig leserlich und bietet einen tollen Einblick in das dekadente Leben der Qing-Aristokraten.

livre parvenu très rapidement et en état parfait

What a marvellous book. This volume concentrates on the detail surrounding daily life of the family. The interactions between family members is intriguing. It is very well written and absorbing. However sometimes the detail is a little overwhelming. Looking forward to volume three.

My favorite novel of all time

Excellent translation. Fascinating.