The Chinese Storyteller's Book: Supernatural Tales

By Michael David Kwan

Book Overview

A collection of nine fantastical stories based on ancient folk tales. First exposed to these folk tales during his childhood in China, the author heard them told by storytellers on street corners. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804834180
• ISBN13: 9780804834186
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Tuttle Pub
• Length: 118 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.5" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Through a Chinese Glass Darkly

Bravo, an impulse purchase of this book was amply rewarded by elegant ghost stories that delighted me no end. This is a book to keep and treasure. At times the pathos is mingled with humor reminding one of the best of Hans Andersen's fairy tales. The supernatural is interwoven with much of the natural world and the symbiotic relations between humans and nature create that "bardo" between worlds in which anything can happen. The "Fisherman's Tale" is perhaps my favorite in the collection, it is a thoughtful & chilling meditation on life and death. This small collection has sent me on a journey to read all of Mr. Kwan's work.

Magical Chinese tales for everyone

Don't worry if you don't know about China or its history: just sit around the campfire and take a journey through strange ghost stories from another land. Unlike many awkward translations, Michael David Kwan freely retells these stories with a formidably poetic writing style, painting pictures in the mind as vivid as those that fixated him as a child on the street corners of China. Hidden throughout is a wealth of insight into the daily life and values that shaped the culture of Imperial China.