Chinese Literature Ambition

[古文奇才]

My ambition is to read all the great Chinese classics. What would you like to read? 尋找志同道合的朋友。

 

論語

孟子

大學

中庸

 

詩經

書經

禮記

易經

春秋左傳

 

史記

 

唐詩

宋詞

 

三國演義

水滸傳

西遊記

紅樓夢

 

射鵰英雄傳

神鵰俠侶

倚天屠龍記

 

 

[Lu]

What would you like to read?

The pile of books I bought in the past two weeks. Or more broadly, more than a few contemporary Chinese novels per year.

 

Good luck with your goal, that might take a lifetime of dedicated work!

[古文奇才]

I think it's gonna take awhile.

[洋人丹]

Is that list just the ones you are starting with, or all the classics that you plan to read? That list should be much longer.

 

Also...

 

射鵰英雄傳

神鵰俠侶

倚天屠龍記

 

I'm not sure I would consider Jin Yong's Wuxia novels as "great Chinese classics". I've read a couple and I love 射雕, but I wouldn't consider the three you mentioned being his best works. 天龙八部 or 鹿鼎记 are probably considered by most to be better works than 射雕

 

But outside of that, that list seems like a good start. 

 

 

 

 

[古文奇才]

This is just my list for starting out, but I don't know if I'll ever finish them. It will take a long time. I finished 三國演義 and the wuxia stuff and now I'm reading 論語。 I tried to read 天龍八部 but it was so long. And the gore, violence, and incest...it was like slogging through a Greek tragedy. Hopefully one day I'll go back and finish it.

[skylee]

Re #4, those 3 books are in a way a trilogy.

Re #5, there is no incest in 天龍八部 IIRC. You need to read on. It is a great story.

I personally do not like 鹿鼎記, but most people say it is great so there must be something great in it. Perhaps I would like it better when I read it again. I used to dislike 倚天屠龍記 but after re-reading it a few times I have grown to regard it quite highly.

[skylee]

Re the list at #1, I would read them in reverse order of the list, the easiest/ newest first and the oldest last, like most native learners. The exceptions are 唐詩 / 宋詞 / 史記, I think they should be given some priority, as knowledge in them would be very helpful for reading more recent stuff.

[洋人丹]

Skylee 

 

I agree on 鹿鼎记. I think there are aspects of the book that are really interesting, but the fact that the story relies WAY too much on coincidence (which is true in many of Jin Yong's other works, but I feel gets taken to a whole new level in 鹿鼎记）annoys me. I personally feel like it's lazy writing. 

 

Regardless, I have read many commentators who feel it is one of Jin Yong's best, and if you are only going to read only a few of Jin Yong's books, I guess I don't feel like 神雕侠侣 or倚天屠龙记 would be on that list (even though they can be considered kind of a trilogy).

 

And my main point above was that I wouldn't consider Jin Yong books as great classics. If the OP wants something closer to modern Chinese, short stories be Lu Xun or 老残游记、孽海花 would all be short reads and fit much more under the definition of "great classics". 

 

Also, OP, are you going to be reading older texts like the Analects and Mengzi, etc. with commentary and notes? 

[skylee]

Re #8, different people consider and call different things "classics" or "great classics". Your view of course represents what you think.

PS - "definition"?

[古文奇才]

洋人

 

I'm reading the version of 論語 published by 三民書局。

 

http://f.rimg.com.tw/s1/d/db/77/21439326943095_123_m.jpg

 

It's pretty good - original text, explanation of classical chinese terms, baihua translation, and a few notes by scholars like Zhu Xi.

 

It was recommended by my tutor. We got about halfway through before I ran out of money for lessons. I'm continuing on my own, though.