Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Vol. 1

With a glass of wine, I stimulate my pen, yet I only succeed in “venting my excited feelings” A reference to an essay by the philosopher Han Fei, who lamented the corruption of his age before eventually dying in prison., and as I commit my thoughts to writing, I am truly an object of pity. Alas! I am like the bird that, fearing the winter frost, finds no shelter in the tree; the autumn insect that chirps to the moon and hugs the door for warmth. For where are they who know me A reference to a statement by Confucius, who lamented that no one truly understood him.? They are “in the dense grove and at the frontier pass” A poetic allusion by the poet Tu Fu to his predecessor Li T‘ai-po; the meaning is that those who truly understand the author are as elusive as a ghost.—wrapped in an impenetrable gloom!”

From the above curious document, the reader will gain some insight into the complex but marvelously beautiful style of this gifted writer. The whole essay—for such it is, and among the most perfect of its kind—is intended chiefly as a satire upon the scholarship of the age; scholarship which had turned the author