Download or read book Strange Tales from Liaozhai - Vol. 1 written by Pu Songling and published by Jain Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008-08-01 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The weird and whimsical short stories in Strange Tales from Liaozhai show their author, Pu Songling (1640-1715), to be both an explorer of the macabre, like Edgar Allan Poe, and a moralist, like Aesop. In this first complete translation of the collection's 494 stories into English, readers will encounter supernatural creatures, natural disasters, magical aspects of Buddhist and Daoist spirituality, and a wide range of Chinese folklore. Annotations are provided to clarify unfamiliar references or cultural allusions, and introductory essays have been included to explain facets of Pu Songling's work and to provide context for some of the unique qualities of his uncanny tales. This is the first of 6 volumes.