"Unlike countless studies of Dream of the Red Chamber that employ the method of evidential research and analysis, Reflections on Dream of the Red Chamber uses the intuitive approach of Zen to get to the heart of the novel. With his insightful expositions of Cao Xueqin’s novel as both a novel about life and an unconventional work, Liu Zaifu establishes himself as a scholar who adopts a viewpoint of an 'outsider' in a crowded field...I recommend this book to English-speaking readers as an aid on their journey into the spiritual world of Dream of the Red Chamber, a world that transcends both the boundaries of time and the boundaries of geography." - Gao Xingjian, Winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature

"A delightful, fascinating, and enlightening reading of Cao Xueqin's eighteenth-century masterpiece Honglou meng ... extremely engaging and stimulating ... the author's cross-cultural comparisons and references may well broaden his readers' perspective and will be helpful to English readers of Chinese literature ... The translator has also done a good job by using lucid and pithy language to translate some extremely complicated concepts and expressions." – China Review International

Liu Zaifu is a noted contemporary Chinese critic. He has published more than thirty books, including scholarly works and collections of essays, and has served as the director of the Institute of Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, the University of Stockholm and the University of Colorado. Some of his publications include A Biography of Lu Xun, Lu Xun and Natural Science, Lu Xun’s Aesthetics, The Theory of Character Organization, Farewell Gods, Twenty-Five Kinds of Men, and a five-volume series entitled Records of Exile. He is the co-author of Tradition and Chinese, Farewell Revolution, and Understanding Life Together. He is currently a Fellow at University of Colorado at Boulder and Honorary Professor at City University of Hong Kong.

About Shu Yunzhong

Shu Yunzhong is Associate Professor of Chinese at Queens College, City University of New York. He holds a PhD in Chinese literature from Columbia University. His publications include articles on contemporary Chinese fiction, China's image in Victorian literature, and the Chinese influence on contemporary American poets, Kenneth Rexroth and Gary Snyder.

Foreword

Preface 1

Preface 2

Translator’s Note

Part 1. Reflections on Dream of the Red Chamber

Introductory Notes

Section 1 (written between 1995 and 2004)

Section 2 (written in 2005)

Part 2. Comments on Dream of the Red Chamber

The Eternal Value of Dream of the Red Chamber

1. A Spiritual Beacon for Humankind

2. The Universe in Dream of the Red Chamber—Wang Guowei’s Discovery

3. A Tragedy, and a Novel of Absurdity As Well—A Supplement to Wang

Guowei’s View on Dream of the Red Chamber

4. Creation of Poetic Lives

5. Artistic Harmony Between a High Vantage Point and a Low Profile

6. An Eastern Epic with an Implicit Vision

Repentance in Dream of the Red Chamber

1. Tragedy and the Relationships of Complicity

2. The Character and Soul of a Penitent

3. The Implications of the “Debt of Tears”

4. A Remarkable Confession

The Transcendental Viewpoint in Dream of the Red Chamber

Part 3. Discussions on Dream of the Red Chamber

A Discussion on Priggishness

Jia Yucun’s Mentality

Jia Huan in Charge

Jia Huan’s Groundless Hatred for Adamantina

The Discontinuation of the Jia Family Line

The Two Sisters Sunset and Rainbow

Jia Dairu’s Comments on When to Write Poems

Jia Yuanchun’s Remarks About Not Writing Poems of Praise

I Liked the Maidservant Simple the Most

Wang Xifeng’s Three Talents

After the Naiad’s House Is Haunted

Jia She’s View on Book Learning

A Brief Discussion on Jia Zheng

Postscript

Appendix

A Discussion of the Philosophy in Dream of the Red Chamber