Humans, Beasts, and Ghosts

Qian Zhongshu (1910-1998), hailed as twentieth-century China's "foremost man of letters," is best known for his novel, Fortress Besieged, and his groundbreaking study of the Chinese literary canon, Limited Views: Essays on Ideas and Letters. Christopher G. Rea is assistant professor of modern Chinese literature at the University of British Columbia.

• Acknowledgments Introduction Written in the Margins of Life and Human, Beast, Ghost Author's Preface to the 1983 Editions of Written in the Margins of Life and Human, Beast, Ghost Written in the Margins of Life Dedication Acknowledgments Preface The Devil Pays a Nighttime Visit to Mr. Qian Zhongshu Windows On Happiness On Laughter Eating Reading Aesop's Fables On Moral Instruction A Prejudice Explaining Literary Blindness On Writers Notes Human, Beast, Ghost First Preface to the 1946 Kaiming Edition Second Preface to the 1946 Kaiming Edition God's Dream Cat Inspiration Souvenir Notes Editions Further Reading in English Translators

Qian is both funny and clever throughout Humans, Beasts, and Ghosts, and this volume serves as a good introduction to an author that is well worth knowing. -- M.A. Orthofer The Complete Review Excellently translated and well prepared with an introduction and endnote annotations, this volume of Qian's early short works is not only accessible to the general reader but should be read by all serious scholars of modern Chinese literature. -- Yu Liu, Niagara County Community College The European Legacy A valuable addition to the works of Chinese literature translated into English. -- Eileen J. Cheng China Review International