Mouse vs. Cat in Chinese Literature: Tales and Commentary

by Wilt L. Idema (Translator), Haiyan Lee (Foreword by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295744841
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	03/18/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Wilt L. Idema is professor emeritus of Chinese literature at Harvard University. He is the author of Chinese Vernacular Fiction: The Formative Period, coauthor of The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China, and translator of Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets: An Anthology and other works of traditional Chinese literature. Haiyan Lee is professor of East Asian languages and cultures and of comparative literature at Stanford University. She is the author of Revolution of the Heart: A Genealogy of Love in China, 1900–1950, and The Stranger and the Chinese Moral Imagination.

Table of Contents

Foreword Haiyan Lee vii

Acknowledgments xv

Chronology of Dynasties and Historical Periods xvii

Introduction 3

Chapter 1 Thieving Rats and Pampered Cats 22

Rapacious Rats 23

Deserving Mice 27

Performing Mice 28

Revered Rats 31

Wildcats and Pussycats 34

Buddhist Cats 38

Good Mousers and Lazy Pets 41

Demonic Cats 48

Cat Lovers and Cat Lore 53

Chapter 2 The White Mouse and the Five Rats 56

The White Mouse 57

The Five Rats 65

The Execution of the Five Rats 70

Chapter 3 A Wedding and a Court Case 82

The Marriage of the Mouse 82

The Court Case 90

Other Genres 102

The Mutual Accusations of the Cat and the Mouse 103

The Scroll of the Accusation of the Mouse against the Cat 108

Chapter 4 A Tale without Shape or Shadow 114

Expanding the Court Case 114

Prequels: Creation and Pride 118

Prequels: The Crashed Wedding 123

Prequels: The War of the Mice against the Cat 127

A Tale without Shape or Shadow 131

Chapter 5 Peace Negotiations and Dystopias 154

Actualized Versions of the Court Case 156

Modern and Contemporary Authors on Cats and Rats 163

Epilogue: Cats and Mice in Love and War from East to West 175

Glossary of Chinese Characters 183

Notes 189

Bibliography 215

Index 239

What People are Saying About This

David Der-wei Wang

"This collection draws us into a world in which cats and mice engage in spectacular confrontations and negotiations, from ancient times to the modern era. The representations reveal as much about the Chinese imagination of animals as of themselves. Wilt Idema again proves himself to be a most erudite Sinologist and a critic with a keen modernist consciousness. The collection is a marvelous sourcebook for readers not only in Chinese and Sinophone narrative studies, but also in animal studies and post-human criticism."

Madeline K. Spring

"Displaying an impressive mastery of the subject, Wilt Idema presents the material in this book in a lively and highly engaging manner."

David Wang

This collection draws us into a world in which cats and mice engage in spectacular confrontations and negotiations, from ancient times to the modern era. The representations reveal as much about the Chinese imagination of animals as of themselves. Wilt Idema again proves himself to be a most erudite Sinologist and a critic with a keen modernist consciousness. The collection is a marvelous sourcebook for readers not only in Chinese and Sinophone narrative studies, but also in animal studies and post-human criticism.

Editorial Reviews

"[D]eeply scholarly and yet highly enjoyable reading."

Chinese Literature: Essays

"Like so many of the eye-opening volumes on popular literature that Idema has produced, Mouse vs. Cat is an enormous boon to scholars and to teachers."

CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature

"[A] a significant contribution to the fields of Chinese literature and animal studies alike."

Journal of Chinese Studies

"Mouse vs. Cat is simultaneously an entertaining exploration of a long-held personal interest and a well-timed case study of what it means for humans to think with animals in literature."

Journal of the American Oriental Society

"A collection of animal fables that adds an elegant new dimension to the anglophone understanding of the Chinese literary tradition."

Hong Kong Review of Books

"A broad and rich survey not only of literary representations of mouse versus cat within the larger context of Chinese history, but also of anthropomorphism in world literature.. . . . I absolutely recommend this book to my fellow human beings."

Modern Chinese Literature and Culture (Scholarly Studies of Modern Chinese Literature)

"While lightheartedness characterizes its thematic choice, Mouse vs. Cat is a critical inquiry into anthropomorphism."

Journal of Asian Studies