Li Yu (1611–1680)

Li Yu (Chinese: 李漁; pinyin: Lǐ Yú, given name: 仙侣 Xiānlǚ; courtesy name: 笠翁 Lìwēng; 1611–1680 AD), also known as Li Liweng, was a Chinese playwright, novelist and publisher.

Life and writings

Born in Rugao, in present-day Jiangsu province, he lived in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Although he passed the first stage of the imperial examination, he failed to pass higher levels before the political turmoil of the new dynasty, but instead turned to writing for the market. Li was an actor, producer, and director as well as a playwright, who traveled with his own troupe. His play Errors caused by the Kite (Chinese: 風箏誤; pinyin: Fēngzhēng wù) is performed in the Chinese Kun opera stage.^[1]

Li is the presumed author of The Carnal Prayer Mat, a comedy of Chinese erotic literature.^[2] He also wrote a book of short stories called Twelve Towers (十二樓; Shí'èr lóu). He addresses the topic of same-sex love in the tale "House of Gathered Refinements" (萃雅樓; Cuìyǎ lóu). This is a theme he revisits in the collection Silent Operas (i.e. "novels"; 無聲戲; Wúshēng Xì) and his play The Fragrant Companion. Li prefaced and published the painting manual Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden in Jinling.

Li was also known for his informal essays, or xiaopin (小品), and for his gastronomy and gastronomical writings. Lin Yutang translated a number of these essays. Li's "On Having a Stomach" proposes that the mouth and the stomach "cause all the worry and trouble of mankind throughout the ages." He continues that the "plants can live without a mouth and a stomach, and the rocks and the soil have their being without any nourishment. Why, then, must we be given a mouth and a stomach and endowed with these two extra organs?"^[3] Lin also translated Li's "How to be Happy Though Rich" and "How to be Happy Though Poor", and "The Arts of Sleeping, Walking, Sitting and Standing", which illustrate his satirical approach to serious topics.^[4]

Li was critical of gambling, describing dice as innocent objects transformed into devils in the hands of gamblers.^[5]

Translations

Patrick Hanan et al. (1990). "Silent Operas (Wusheng Xi)". Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong. ISBN 978-9627255079
Patrick Hanan (1996). The Carnal Prayer Mat. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1798-2.
Patrick Hanan (1998). Tower for the Summer Heat. New York : Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11384-6.
Nathan K Mao (1979). Twelve towers : short stories. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. ISBN 962-201-170-5.
Jacques Dars (2003). Au gré d'humeurs oisives : Les carnets secrets de Li Yu : un art du bonheur en Chine. Arles : Éditions Philippe Picquier. ISBN 2-87730-664-X
Jou-pu-tuan : Andachtsmatten aus Fleisch ; e. erot. Roman aus d. Ming-Zeit. Frankfurt am Main : Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag. ISBN 3-596-22451-9. 1986.
LI‑YU Jeou-P'ou-T'ouan, la chair comme tapis de prière, translated by Pierre Klossowski; Éditions Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Paris, 1979
Li Yu: À mari jaloux, femme fidèle, by Pascale Frey 1998

References

^ Chun-shu Chang Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang, Crisis and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century China: Society, Culture, and Modernity in Li Yü's World (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992), 48, 60–71, 161.
^ Chang and Chang, Crisis and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century China: Society, Culture, and Modernity in Li Yü's World. 16, 232–38, doubt Li's authorship.
^ Yutang Lin, The Importance of Living (New York: John Day: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1937), 43.
^ Yutang Lin, The Importance of Understanding: Translations from the Chinese (Cleveland: World, 1960).
^ Chen, Jiayi (2024). "Ghostly Dicing: Gambling Games and Deception in Ming-Qing Short Stories". In Guo, Li; Eyman, Douglas; Sun, Hongmei (eds.). Games & Play in Chinese & Sinophone Cultures. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780295752402.

Sources and further reading

Chen, Duo, "Li Yu". Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
Chun-Shu Chang and Shelley Hsueh-Lun Chang. Crisis and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century China: Society, Culture, and Modernity in Li Yü's World. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. x, 452p. ISBN 0-472-10255-9.
Owen, Stephen, "Li, Yu, Silent Operas (Wu-sheng xi)," in Stephen Owen, ed. An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. p. 915-941. (. (Archive).
Patrick Hanan (1988). The Invention of Li Yu. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-46425-7. Comprehensive overview of Li Yu's life and works, containing many substantial excerpts from Li Yu's essays, plays, short stories and novel.
Andrea Stocken: Das Ästhetikkonzept des Li Yu (1610–1680) im Xianqing ouji im Zusammenhang von Leben und Werk. 2005 ISBN 3-447-05120-5
HENRY, Eric: Chinese Amusement - The Lively Plays of Li Yü.Archon Books Hamden, CT 1980
Воскресенский Д.Н. Ли Юй. Полуночник Вэйян или подстилка из плоти. (пер. с кит., предисл., коммент.) М., Гудьял-Пресс
Воскресенский Д.Н. Ли Юй. Двенадцать башен (повести XVII в.). (пер. с кит., предисл., коммент.) М., Гудьял-Пресс
Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). "Li Yü" . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.

External links

WorldCat Identity Page Yi Li
Brief review of The Carnal Prayer Mat

[1] Chun-shu Chang Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang, Crisis and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century China: Society, Culture, and Modernity in Li Yü's World (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992), 48, 60–71, 161.

[2] Chang and Chang, Crisis and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century China: Society, Culture, and Modernity in Li Yü's World. 16, 232–38, doubt Li's authorship.

[3] Yutang Lin, The Importance of Living (New York: John Day: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1937), 43.

[4] Yutang Lin, The Importance of Understanding: Translations from the Chinese (Cleveland: World, 1960).

[Chen2-5] Chen, Jiayi (2024). "Ghostly Dicing: Gambling Games and Deception in Ming-Qing Short Stories". In Guo, Li; Eyman, Douglas; Sun, Hongmei (eds.). Games & Play in Chinese & Sinophone Cultures. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780295752402.

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