Classical Chinese Supernatural Fiction: A Morphological History: v. 44 (Chinese Studies S.) - Tapa dura

"Dr. Zhao's painstaking work in analyzing the stories in such detail has produced a major contribution to the study of Chinese literature. Because it is organized and presented in such exemplary fashion, [this book] transcends Chinese studies and constitutes a valuable contribution to comparative literature studies." - Professor Julian Ward, University of Edinburgh"

This is the first attempt ever made at a systematic analysis of classical Chinese supernatural fiction known as zhiguai under the morphological framework designed by Vladimir Propp (1928) and later developed by Alan Dundes (1964). The focus is on a synchronic presentation of textual features and structural patterns of zhiguai fiction, but the book includes a general review of zhiguai literature from Sahnhai Jin to Liaozhai Zhiyi.