水浒传, translated into English as ‘Water Margin’, is considered to be one of the Four Great Novels of Chinese literature. It is, along with Dream of the Red Chamber, The story is pretty interesting because the heroes are all outlaws who kill indiscriminately, yet they are considered the good guys because they are fighting against corrupt officials (but are still loyal to the Emperor). The reason why they are considered good guys is because they are considered to fulfill Confucian ideals much better than the people they murder (excepting the innocent bystanders). Yet it also reads as a deeply misogynistic book. Out of the 108 heroes, only three of them are women and only one of them made any sort of impression of me. More striking are the portrayal of women who play supporting characters – virtuous women are inevitably sexually assaulted and/or commit suicide (or get eaten by tigers) while everyone else is adulterous and somehow a murderer or attempted murderer.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good . *Two Volume Set Complete Hardbacks with Dust Jackets, Water Margin written by Shin Nai-an, translated by J. H. Jackson. Volume One 478pp, Volume Two 439pp. Published in 1963 by The Commercial Press Ltd., Hong Kong. Very light wear to boards & page edges, clean set.covered in m,yalr