Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part A

Another week of reading notes! This week is on Chinese Fairy Tales, and I will be using the "Beautiful Sentences" method of notetaking.

Bibliography: All readings are from the Chinese Fairy Tales unit in the Un-Textbook. Notes regard stories from The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

I really enjoyed Part A of this week's reading. The first sentence that really struck me as particularly effective was in "Yang Oerlang." In describing a character who had become skilled in magic, the author said this: "He also knew how to empty out seas and remove mountains from one place to another." The imagery used here resonated with me as a reader. The ideas of emptying out seas and removing mountains are great word pictures that are original and fresh. In my own writing, I want to use more imagery like this rather than employing cliches and overused metaphors. This sentence gave me a strong idea of the character's power.

A second sentence that I enjoyed was from "The Lady of the Moon." A sorcerer is explaining something, and says this: "The cassia tree grows so luxuriantly that in the course of time it would overshadow all the moon’s radiance. " This sentence worked well in context, but even removed from its original story the language is powerful. The concept of overshadowing "all the moon's radiance" is bold and gripping. Much like the last sentence, the imagery here is beautiful.

Finally, I was captivated by this sentence spoken by a monk in "The God of War" story: "The monk folded his hands and said: 'While you lived you were upright and faithful, and in death you have become a wise god, and yet you do not understand fate!'." This sentence is better in context of the narrative, but the point that this monk is making proves powerful. Even successful and wise people can fail to understand the realities of life and its unpredictability.  

These tales were enjoyable and full of strong sentences! I'm excited to look for ways to incoporate better, more interesting imagery into my own storytelling during the rest of this course.

 Statue of Guan Yu in Jingzhou Park.

Source: Wikimedia