Li Yu (
Chinese: 李漁;
pinyin: Lǐ Yú, given name: 仙侣 Xiānlǚ;
courtesy name: 笠翁 Lìwēng; 1611–1680 AD), also known as Li Liweng, was a Chinese playwright, novelist and publisher.
Life and writings
Born in
Rugao, in present-day
Jiangsu province, he lived in the late
Ming and early
Qing dynasties. Although he passed the first stage of the
imperial examination, he failed to pass higher levels before the political turmoil of the new dynasty, but instead turned to writing for the market. Li was an actor, producer, and director as well as a playwright, who traveled with his own troupe. His play Errors caused by the Kite (
Chinese: 風箏誤;
pinyin: Fēngzhēng wù) is performed in the Chinese
Kun opera stage.[1]
Li is the presumed author of The Carnal Prayer Mat, a comedy of Chinese
erotic literature.[2] He also wrote a book of short stories called Twelve Towers (十二樓; Shí'èr lóu). He addresses the topic of
same-sex love in the tale "House of Gathered Refinements" (萃雅樓; Cuìyǎ lóu). This is a theme he revisits in the collection Silent Operas (i.e. "novels"; 無聲戲; Wúshēng Xì) and his play The Fragrant Companion. Li prefaced and published the painting manual Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden in
Jinling.
Li was also known for his informal essays, or xiaopin (小品), and for his
gastronomy and gastronomical writings.
Lin Yutang translated a number of these essays. Li's "On Having a Stomach" proposes that the mouth and the stomach "cause all the worry and trouble of mankind throughout the ages." He continues that the "plants can live without a mouth and a stomach, and the rocks and the soil have their being without any nourishment. Why, then, must we be given a mouth and a stomach and endowed with these two extra organs?"[3] Lin also translated Li's "How to be Happy Though Rich" and "How to be Happy Though Poor", and "The Arts of Sleeping, Walking, Sitting and Standing", which illustrate his satirical approach to serious topics.[4]
Translations
Patrick Hanan et al. (1990). "Silent Operas (Wusheng Xi)". Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
ISBN978-9627255079
Patrick Hanan (1996). The Carnal Prayer Mat. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press.
ISBN0-8248-1798-2.
Patrick Hanan (1998). Tower for the Summer Heat. New York : Columbia University Press.
ISBN0-231-11384-6.
Owen, Stephen, "Li, Yu, Silent Operas (Wu-sheng xi)," in Stephen Owen, ed. An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York:
W. W. Norton, 1997.
p. 915-941. (. (
Archive).
Patrick Hanan (1988). The Invention of Li Yu. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press.
ISBN0-674-46425-7. Comprehensive overview of Li Yu's life and works, containing many substantial excerpts from Li Yu's essays, plays, short stories and novel.
Andrea Stocken: Das Ästhetikkonzept des Li Yu (1610–1680) im Xianqing ouji im Zusammenhang von Leben und Werk. 2005
ISBN3-447-05120-5
HENRY, Eric: Chinese Amusement - The Lively Plays of Li Yü.Archon Books Hamden, CT 1980
Воскресенский Д.Н. Ли Юй. Полуночник Вэйян или подстилка из плоти. (пер. с кит., предисл., коммент.) М., Гудьял-Пресс
Воскресенский Д.Н. Ли Юй. Двенадцать башен (повести XVII в.). (пер. с кит., предисл., коммент.) М., Гудьял-Пресс