All Men Are Brothers – [Shui Hu Chuan] – Intro #6

All Men Are Brothers – [Shui Hu Chuan] – Intro #6

Translated by Pearl S. Buck

I. Introduction by Lin Yutang – Part 6

 

(4) There were a great many editions, some in 100, some in 110, 115, 120 and 124 chapters. It was in the 17^th century that the great critic Chin Sheng-t’an bravely cut out the last part of the story and reduced it to the current length of 70 chapters. Chin forged a preface by Shih Nai-an, called the novel the work of Shih, and severely condemned the last part as the atrocious addition by Lo, which was too neat a theory to be true. Chin was a brilliant and original writer, and his forged preface, translated here, has been called by Alexander Woollcott the best preface ever written to any book. He claimed to base his edition on an ancient copy in 70 chapters in his possession, which nobody else has ever seen. The claim of an “ancient edition” is no uncommon. In view of the fact that Chin had a definite theory to put forward, including his hearty condemnation of the rebels, and furthermore that, by the witness of a contemporary, he had forged the preface, it is entirely possible that there was never any such ancient edition in 70 chapters.

(5) The main difference between this 70-chapter edition and all other editions, including the Kuo and the Li editions, is that, in the present edition, the story ends with a dream (by Lu Chun-yi) of the wholesale surrender and slaughter of the robber band. The dream seems a convenient device, invented by Chin himself, for cutting the story short in a few paragraphs, and is found in no other edition. In the longer editions, the story is carried further. Sung Chiang and his band were forgiven and accepted government posts to fight other bandits in order to redeem themselves. All the editions before Chin’s included the battle against the band led by Fang Lah. (As a matter of historical fact, Sung and his band probably never fought this battle.) The Kuo edition made him fight in addition the Liaos, a northern tribe. The longer editions covering more than 110 chapters made him fight in addition 2 other robber bands led by T’ien Hu and Wang Ch’ing. The motive for the continuation was to satisfy a public conscience and establish the point that their heroes were forced into banditry but were perfectly willing to serve the Emperor if given a chance. In the opinion of Chin, this just made them too good. In the end, nevertheless, the government treated them cheaply, which made them greater heroes still. Sung Chiang took poison, Yien Ch’ing alone had the wit to disappear in time, and the dogmeat-eating monk Lu Chi-Shen retired to a monastery at Hangchow.

 

(6) The more important difference between the different editions was not one of length, but of quality. There were definitely an inferior version, represented by the 115-chapter edition, and a better version represented by the present one. In text, the present one agrees with the 1^st part of the 120-chapter edition.

 

(7) There was always a public demand for the complete version, even after the 70-chapter edition had become established. Sometimes the part cut out was published separately as a sequel, called Fighting Four Bandits. Two later authors were attracted by the story and wrote original imaginative sequels of their own. In 1630, Ch’en Ch’en wrote a sequel, telling how the reformed rebels helped to fight for the Emperor against the Kins but without success, and how eventually Li Chun escaped to Siam and became the King of Siam. Another author, Yu Wan-ch’un (died 1849), did the reverse. He expanded the story of the surrender and killing of the members of the band, but did such a beautiful job that many critics think he wrote in places better than the author of the original novel.

This novel is noted and loved for its strong characterization but suffers from the sprawling nature of the original legend. Some of its best characterizations are those of Li K’uei, Lu Chi-Shen, Sung Chiang, Ling Ch’ung and Wu Sung. The best chapters are probably those between chapters 20 and 41, covering the exploits of Wu Sung and the battle of Chiangchow, where Sung Chiang joined up with the band and became its leader. There is a great deal of slugging in any part of the novel, but the big battles are those of Chuchiachuang (chapters 46-49) and of Tamingfu and Tsengtoushih (chapters 62-67) where the band fought the government troops. Not the least picturesque elements in the story are the nicknames of all these heroes, such as “Black Whirlwind” (Li K’uei), “Little Whirlwind” (Ch’ain Chin), “Winged Tiger” (Lei Heng), “Red-headed Devil” (Liu T’ang), “Nine Dragoned” (Shih Chin), and “Blue-Faced Beast” (Yang Chi). It is also noteworthy that the author of Chinpingmei merely took the brief episode of Wu Sung out of this novel and developed it into an original imaginative masterpiece.

 

New York, February, 1948.

 

<End of Introduction by Lin Yutang>