Dream Of The Red Chamber Summary
Cao xueqin a member of an eminent family that had served the qing dynasty emperors but whose fortunes had begun to decline began composing dream of the red chamber during the 1740s.
Dream of the red chamber summary. Chia fu the elder grandson of duke ning kuo dies young so the second grandson chia ching succeeds to the title after the death of his father chia tai hua. The book is one of the longest in ancient chinese history with more than 2 000 pages. It details the decline of the jia family as it blends realism and romance psychological motivation and fate and daily life and supernatural occurrences. The dream of the red chamber story of the stone is unlike any work in the western canon yet it fits into the western tradition of great literature in a way few other examples of classic chinese writing are able to offering an engrossive narrative and a real feel for both character and place.
The dream of the red chamber community note includes chapter by chapter summary and analysis character list theme list historical context author biography and the manchu people had toppled the ming dynasty of the han chinese in 1644 forcing a number of brutal policies onto the conquered that were meant to establish a two tier society. Dream of the red chamber s textual history is involved and complex and has long been a subject of critical scrutiny debate and conjecture. The basic storyline of a dream of red mansions focuses primarily on the chia family there are two dukes in the family duke ning kuo and duke jung kuo. Complete summary of chao zhan s dream of the red chamber.
Enotes plot summaries cover all the significant action of dream of the red chamber. The goddess also initiated pao yu into the secrets of sex so intimately and successfully that in a dream he made love to a fantasy of ko ching his niece while sleeping on her bed. Tsao hsueh chin employs the romantic technique of using artistic expression to describe the numerous supernatural characters and events in order to create a mysterious atmosphere.