《A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHINESE FICTION》：This book was written by Lu Hsun, pioneer and standard-bearer of modern Chinese literature, during the early 1920s. It is a study of the historicaldevelopment of Chinese fiction from early myths and legends down to well-developed long novels written at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
The characteristics of various forms of fiction through the centuries, the development of these forms and their influence on each other are lucidly presented, while such major works as the novels Hung Lou Meng （A Dream of Red Mansions） and Shui Hu Chuan （Outlaws of the Marsh） are reviewed in detail.
Chinese fiction had its roots in story-telling, and folk literature of this kind was despised by the feudal ruling class. The May 4th Movement of 1919 dealt a mortal blow to the feudal forces in Chinese culture. Then the study of this form of lit- erature began to make headway, Lu Hsun being one of the first to carry out researches in the field. This book, the earliest systematic study of the history ofChinese fiction by a Chinese writer, still exercises agreat influence among Chinese scholars.
The English translation is illustrated with re-productions of early Chinese woodcuts.

 

Lu Hsun （1881-1936）, originally named ZhouShuren （or Chou Shujen）, has been consideredas one of the most influential Chinese writers andthinkers in the 20th century. He went to Japan tostudy medicine in 1902, but put down the scalpeland took up the pen four years later, with the hopethat art and literature could reform the nationalspirit of the Chinese people.
In May 1918, for the first time under thepseudonym of Lu Hsun （or Lu Xun）, he publishedThe Diary of a Madman, the first vernacular fictionin modern Chinese literary history, and thus became a standard bearer of the New Culture Movement.
His works mainly consist of fiction and satirical essays. The representative works are: the fictioncollections Call to Arms, Wandering and Old TalesRetold; the prose collection Dawn Flowers Pluckedat Dusk; and the essay collections Tomb, Bad Luck,Mixed Dialects, And That's That, etc. Many of hisworks have been translated into more than 50languages, including English, Japanese, Russian,Spanish, French and German. Lu Hsun was also adistinguished scholar in the academic field. Worksin this regard include A Brief History of Chinese Fiction and Compendia of Chinese Literature History.

 

 

Preface to the New Edition
Preface
1. The Historians' Accounts and Evaluations of Fiction
2. Myths and Legends
3. Works of Fiction Mentioned in "The Han Dynasty History"
4. Fiction Attributed to Hart Dynasty Writers
5. Tales of the Supernatural in the Six Dynasties
6. Tales of the Supernatural in the Six Dynasties (Continued)
7. Social Talk and Other Works
8. The Tang Dynasty Prose Romances
9. The Tang Dynasty Prose Romances (Continued)
10. Collections of Tang Dynasty Tales
11. Supernatural Tales and Prose Romances in the Sung Dynasty
12. Story-Tellers' Prompt-Books of the Sung Dynasty
13. Imitations of Prompt-Books in the Sung and Yuan Dynasties
14. Historical Romances of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties
15. Historical Romances of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (Continued)
16. Ming Dynasty Novels About Gods and Devils
17. Ming Dynasty Novels About Gods and Devils (Continued)
18. Ming Dynasty Novels About Gods and Devils (Continued)
19. Novels of Manners in the Ming Dynasty
20. Novels of Manners in the Ming Dynasty (Continued)
21. Ming Dynasty Imitations of Sung Stories in the Vernacular
22. Imitations of Classical Tales in the Ching Dynasty
23. Novels of Social Satire in the Ching Dynasty
24. Novels of Manners in the Ching Dynasty
25. Novels of Erudition in the Ching Dynasty
26. Novels About Prostitution in the Ching Dynasty
27. Novels of Adventure and Detection in the Ching Dynasty
28. Novels of Exposure at the End of the Ching Dynasty
Postscript
Appendices:
The Historical Development of Chinese Fiction
Preface to the Japanese Edition
Index
……

 

NEARLY ten years have passed since I began to lectureon the history of Chinese fiction, and this brief outlinewas first printed seven years ago.Since then much re-search has been done in this field and new discoveries havecleared up certain points which were obscure.For example,the discovery by Professor Shionoya Akushi of the mutilatedYuan dynasty edition of Illustrated Vernacular Tales andFeng Meng-lung's three collections of popular stories, as wellas his researches on these, are of major significance in thehistory of Chinese fiction; and the contention of some Chi-nese scholars that there should be separate histories for thefiction of different periods is a sound one. All this meansthat my brief outline should now be outdated; but since nonew histories have yet been written, there are still readers forthese notes. For a new edition, this book should by rights berevised, but since I started moving from place to place I havegiven up literary studies, and have nothing but a vague rec-ollection of what I wrote in the past.So I simply made afew changes in Chapters 14, 15 and 21, keeping the otherchapters unchanged as I have no new theories regardingthem. Since great vessels take years to produce, this earthen-ware pot of mine still serves some purpose; but though thisfact has prolonged the life of my book, I am disheartenedby this dearth of new writing.