The Scholars (novel)

Common card · No. 424762

The Scholars (Chinese: 儒林外史; pinyin: Rúlín Wàishǐ), also translated as The Unofficial History of the Scholars, is a Chinese novel written by Wu Jingzi and published in 1750 during the Qing dynasty. It is considered one of the great "Classic Chinese Novels", and is distinguished for its unusual narrative structure and acerbic wit. Set in the Ming period, The Scholars describes and often satirizes academic scholars. The novel's loose and sprawling narration would follow a lead character for several chapters, and then seamlessly transitions to another character that are introduced at a social gathering (such as a party or an event) of the previous character, with previous lead characters then appear as a recurring guest or a minor character in the following vignettes. It features a large ensemble of characters, and most of the interconnected plotlines that form the bulk of the novel are didactic stories, on the one hand holding up exemplary Confucian behavior, but on the other ridiculing...

Read on Wikipedia · Image 《民国丛书》编辑委员会, Public domain