Mouse vs. cat in Chinese literature : tales and commentary

Author(s)

• Idema, W. L. (Wilt L.)
• Lee, Haiyan

Bibliographic Information

Mouse vs. cat in Chinese literature : tales and commentary

translated and introduced by Wilt L. Idema ; foreword by Haiyan Lee

（A Robert B. Heilman Book）

University of Washington Press, c2019

• : pbk

Other Title

Mouse versus cat in Chinese literature

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-237) and index

Summary: "Wilt Idema presents Chinese tales about cats and mice, situating them in the Chinese literary tradition as a whole, and within Chinese imaginative depictions of animals. In the literatures of the ancient and modern Near East, South Asia, and medieval Europe, animal fables exhibited a range of anthropomorphic views, but Chinese literature is notable for its relative paucity of extended animal tales and rarity of talking animals. From ancient Egypt to China, rodents have long been vilified as thieves of grain in agrarian society, in perennial war with felines. Through varied depictions of the cat-mouse relationship, this set of tales allows to reader to consider the metaphorical roles of these animals in the Chinese literary imagination and to ponder their unusually prominent--and verbal--role in these stories. Of central focus is the legal case of the mouse against the cat in the underworld court of King Yama, a popular topic in the traditional ballad literature of late-imperial China and of present-

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In literatures worldwide, animal fables have been analyzed for their revealingly anthropomorphic views, but until now little attention has been given to the animal tales of China. The complex, competitive relationship between rodents (vilified as thieves of grain) and the felines with whom they are perennially at war is explored in this presentation of Chinese tales about cats and mice. Master translator Wilt Idema situates them in an overview of animal tales in world literature, in the Chinese literary tradition as a whole, and within Chinese imaginative depictions of animals. The tales demonstrate the animals' symbolism and their unusually prominent-and verbal-role in the stories. These readings depict cats and mice in conflict, in marital bonds, and in litigation-most centrally in a legal case of a mouse against a cat in the underworld court of King Yama. Many of the stories adopt the perspective of the mice as animals merely trying to survive, while also recognizing that cats are natural hunters. This entertaining volume will appeal to readers interested in Chinese literature and society, comparative literature, and posthumanist consideration of human-animal relations.

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BD03411539
• ISBN:
  • 9780295744834
• LCCN: 2018023657
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Seattle
• Pages/Volumes: xvii, 254 p.
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : PL2265
  • DC23 : 895.109/362
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Chinese literature -- History and criticism
  • LCSH : Cats in literature
  • LCSH : Rats in literature
  • LCSH : Tales -- China
  • LCSH : Fables, Chinese
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BB27167132