Feng Menglong was een Chinese auteur die bekend werd om zijn volkse verhalen en poëzie uit de late Ming-dynastie. Zijn literaire werk richtte zich vaak op menselijke emoties en gedrag, geïnspireerd door zijn eigen levenservaringen, waaronder een verloren liefde. Hij blonk uit in het portretteren van sterke en intelligente vrouwelijke personages, die afweken van de destijdse conventies en respect toonden voor de positie van de vrouw. Via zijn verhalen uitte Feng Menglong ook zijn onvrede over maatschappelijke corruptie en zijn verlangen naar rechtvaardigheid, waarbij hij een duidelijke morele lijn trok tussen goed en kwaad.
Set in sixteenth and seventeenth century China, this collection features eight tales that weave together adventure, romance, and intrigue. Readers will encounter a vibrant mix of supernatural elements, comedic mishaps, and themes of crime and punishment, reflecting the rich cultural tapestry of the Song and Ming Dynasties. Each story offers a unique glimpse into the complexities of life during this historical period.
"This abridged edition introduces readers to the flow, power, and drama of this electrifying classic Chinese novel. One of the great works of Chinese literature, beloved in East Asia but virtually unknown in the West, Kingdoms in Peril is an epic historical novel charting the thousand years leading to the unification of China under the rule of the legendary First Emperor. Writing some fourteen hundred years later, the Ming-era author Feng Menglong drew on a vast trove of literary and historical documents to compose a gripping narrative account of how China came to be China. Here, translated into English for the first time, Kingdoms in Peril recounts the triumphs and tragedies of those thousand years, through stories taken from the lives of the unforgettable characters that defined and shaped the age in which they lived. This abridged edition distills the novel's distinct style and its most dramatic episodes into a single volume. Maintaining the spirit and excitement of the original, this edition weaves together nine of the most pivotal storylines--some extremely famous, others less well known. Readers will glimpse the intensity of tectonic events that contoured everyday lives, loves, and struggles, with powerful women featuring as prominently in the novel as they have in Chinese history. There are many historical works that provide an account of some of these events, but none are as thrilling and breathtakingly memorable as Kingdoms in Peril"-- Provided by publisher
"Kingdoms in Peril is an epic historical novel covering the five hundred and fifty years of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, from the civil wars and invasions that marked the birth of a new regime in 771 BCE to the unification of China in 221 BCE. Kingdoms in Peril was written in the 1640s, at the very end of the Ming dynasty, by the great novelist Feng Menglong (1574-1646). In the course of the one hundred and eight chapters of the complete novel, he documents the collapse of the Zhou confederacy during the Spring and Autumn period (771-475 BCE) and the slow rebuilding of civil society during the Warring States era (475-221 BCE) which culminated in the unification of China under the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty (r. 246-221 BCE as king; r. 221-210 BCE as emperor). Thus overall this novel describes a grand arc, from stability to chaos and back again. As a novel about politics, much of the narrative in Kingdoms in Peril concentrates on the exercise of power."--
"Kingdoms in Peril is an epic historical novel covering the five hundred and fifty years of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, from the civil wars and invasions that marked the birth of a new regime in 771 BCE to the unification of China in 221 BCE. Kingdoms in Peril was written in the 1640s, at the very end of the Ming dynasty, by the great novelist Feng Menglong (1574-1646). In the course of the one hundred and eight chapters of the complete novel, he documents the collapse of the Zhou confederacy during the Spring and Autumn period (771-475 BCE) and the slow rebuilding of civil society during the Warring States era (475-221 BCE) which culminated in the unification of China under the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty (r. 246-221 BCE as king; r. 221-210 BCE as emperor). Thus overall this novel describes a grand arc, from stability to chaos and back again. As a novel about politics, much of the narrative in Kingdoms in Peril concentrates on the exercise of power"--
"Kingdoms in Peril is an epic historical novel covering the five hundred and fifty years of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, from the civil wars and invasions that marked the birth of a new regime in 771 BCE to the unification of China in 221 BCE. Kingdoms in Peril was written in the 1640s, at the very end of the Ming dynasty, by the great novelist Feng Menglong (1574-1646). In the course of the one hundred and eight chapters of the complete novel, he documents the collapse of the Zhou confederacy during the Spring and Autumn period (771-475 BCE) and the slow rebuilding of civil society during the Warring States era (475-221 BCE) which culminated in the unification of China under the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty (r. 246-221 BCE as king; r. 221-210 BCE as emperor). Thus overall this novel describes a grand arc, from stability to chaos and back again. As a novel about politics, much of the narrative in Kingdoms in Peril concentrates on the exercise of power"--
"Kingdoms in Peril is an epic historical novel covering the five hundred and fifty years of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, from the civil wars and invasions that marked the birth of a new regime in 771 BCE to the unification of China in 221 BCE. Kingdoms in Peril was written in the 1640s, at the very end of the Ming dynasty, by the great novelist Feng Menglong (1574-1646). In the course of the one hundred and eight chapters of the complete novel, he documents the collapse of the Zhou confederacy during the Spring and Autumn period (771-475 BCE) and the slow rebuilding of civil society during the Warring States era (475-221 BCE) which culminated in the unification of China under the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty (r. 246-221 BCE as king; r. 221-210 BCE as emperor). Thus overall this novel describes a grand arc, from stability to chaos and back again. As a novel about politics, much of the narrative in Kingdoms in Peril concentrates on the exercise of power."--
