In the first five chapters, the author provides us with a good overview of the Chia family. In addition, he gives us general information about related matters that pertain to the Shih, Wang, and Hsueh families. In this way, he sets up a number of intricate plot developments, and from […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Volume I: Chapter 6Summary and Analysis Volume I: Chapters 1-5
The first five chapters form a preface for the rest of the novel and also serve as a general introduction for the reader. The author makes the purpose and main theme of the novel clear by criticizing the writers of the “beauty-and-talented-scholar” school of writing, as well as the writers […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Volume I: Chapters 1-5About Dream of the Red Chamber
Introduction Dream of the Red Chamber is a one-volume adaptation of a much longer, three-volume work, sometimes translated into English as A Dream of Red Mansions. It is China’s best-known novel. We have based this set of Notes on the three-volume original novel, feeling that the richness of the original […]
Read more About Dream of the Red ChamberBook Summary
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. Chia Fu, the elder grandson of Duke Ning-kuo, dies young, so the second grandson, Chia Ching, succeeds to the title after the […]
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