Pu Songling
Pu Songling (Chinese蒲松龄, Pinyin Pú Sōnglíng, P'u Sung -ling W.-G.; * June 5, 1640 Zichuan (淄川today :淄博Zibo, Shandong) province, † February 25, 1715 ibid ) was a Chinese writer of Mongolian descent.
Life
After a sickly childhood and barren Pú failed several times in the imperial examinations. His dreams of a civil service career he therefore had to give up early and worked as a school teacher. With sparse income, removed from the social recognition he spent apart from another trip, his entire life in his home province of Shandong. There he opened a tea house and invited his guests to tell stories, which he wrote down and published. Only at the age of 72 years, three years before his death, he received a small office. In the meantime, he mainly worked as a private tutor, but wrote next to countless works such as manuals, encyclopedias, poetry and essays. In his posthumous papers shall Pú testimony of the loneliness and frustration of his last years: "I 'm just a bird, which you dread the winter frost and find no shelter in the branches; the autumn cricket that anzirpt the moon and hugs at the door to catch a little heat. Where are those who know me, " Until his death, he was neither a high social status granted nor a political career? ; his real fame should follow him after death, this., in the form of his life work, the Liaozhai Zhiyi
Work
Pus -known work is the Liaozhai Zhiyi (聊斋志异; Strange Stories from a scholarly room) from 1679 until 1707, the final completed collection includes 431 stories and connects the early medieval ghost and love story with the novel art of Tang period. .
In many of the often supernatural or fantastic trains carrying stories comes the Taoist idea of " animated nature " expressed. Mention may be made about the spread fox spirits, female mythical creatures, the unsuspecting youths force their demise. In The Crows, the boundary between human and bird life is repealed, transformations between the two genera are possible at any time. By appearing in human form peonies or chrysanthemums tell the stories of the women and flowers Chrysanthemums genii. But also painted scenes can certainly mix with reality, as in the mural.
Religious and mythological motifs appear approximately in the judge on where a jest to the meal charged hell judge not only his host a new, " wiser " heart begins, but also his wife put on a prettier head, or in the God in exile where the accept protagonists Yo the god of thunder, and his deceased friend Xian.
For all the poetic world of volatile playfulness, they Pú but is also entirely with the real life conditions of his time apart, about the corruption of the civil service, the relentlessly - strict examination system, the one-sided book-learning of academics. Also, the plight of refugees, famine and banditry of the early Qing period are discussed.
Effect story
Despite its drafting in the written language, the work was very popular soon. Nevertheless it was first only in manuscript form in circulation, since Pu publication financially could not afford. A printed version was not published until 1740 (according to another source: 1766 ) at the instance of a grandson of the author. Significant partial translations into German are from Martin Buber (1911) and Richard Wilhelm ( 1914); so far the only complete translation ( in 5 volumes ) by Gottfried Rösel (1989-1992). A great admirer of Liaozhai Zhiyi was Franz Kafka, who expressed his appreciation of Buber's translation selection in a letter of 16 January 1913, Felice Bauer expressed
Many of Pus stories were also made into a film, such as in A Chinese Ghost Story (倩女幽魂), the work of Hong Kong director Tsui Hark (徐克) in Painted Skin by King Hu or an adaptation of Li Han - Hsiang Taiwaners.
Works
- Pu Sung -ling: From the collection of Liao - chih -yi dschai. German by Gottfried Rösel. Publisher The balance, Zurich; Volume 1: Dealing with chrysanthemums. 81 tales of the first 4 books. 1987, ISBN 3-85966-053-5;
- Volume 2: Two Lives in a dream. 67 tales of volumes 5 to 8, 1989, ISBN 3-85966-054-3;
- Volume 3: A visit to the Blessed. 86 tales of the volumes nine through twelve. Publisher The balance, Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-85966-058-6;
- Volume 4: Let butterflies fly 158 stories of the volumes thirteen to fifteen. 1992, ISBN 3-85966-059-4;
- Volume 5: contacts with survivors. 109 stories of the last two books of sixteen and seventeen. 1992, ISBN 3-85966-060-8.