A Companion to The Story of the Stone

Readers of Cao's novel will find the commentary invaluable because it allows them to join in the epic sweep of the Jia family as it navigates Chinese society in the 18th century. Highly recommended. -- C. M. Smith * Choice Reviews *
Brave readers embarking on The Story of the Stone—China’s grandest, most complex, and most inspiring work of literature—will be greatly assisted by this welcome guide, both for its admirably succinct summary of the novel’s plot and for its thought-provoking commentary, by lifelong Stone aficionados Susan Chan Egan and Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung. -- John Minford, translator of The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, volumes 4 and 5
A Companion to The Story of the Stone ushers us into a world in which mythical fantasies engender realist indulgences and passionate romances induce philosophical awakenings. Historian Susan Egan Chan and writer Pai Hsien-yung have formed a dream team in producing a most succinct guidebook for anyone interested in a journey into classic China at its most mesmerizing. -- David Der-wei Wang, author of The Lyrical in Epic Time: Modern Chinese Intellectuals and Artists Through the 1949 Crisis
Approachable and authoritative, Egan and Pai’s Companion will be welcomed by novices and connoisseurs alike. Far more than just a guide to plot and characters, the book offers a wealth of information on eighteenth-century Chinese society—everything from politics, history, and religion to medicine, sexuality, and theater—that greatly enriches any encounter with TheStory of the Stone. -- Mark Elliott, author of Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World
With chapter-by-chapter summaries and commentary, this book offers a useful and most needed English guide to The Story of the Stone, a mid-eighteenth century masterpiece that arguably remains the greatest novel ever produced in China. -- Wei Shang, author of Rulin Waishi and Cultural Transformation in Late Imperial China
A Companion to The Story of the Stone is a field guide to support every reader, not just the uninitiated, through this long and fearsomely complex book. This guide is as necessary as Blamires’s The Bloomsday Book or Puette’s Guide to the Tale of Genji to bring China’s greatest novel into the mainstream of world literature. -- Dore J. Levy, author of Ideal and Actual in "The Story of the Stone"
[A] Companion to the Story of the Stone, with its infectious enthusiasm for the story and its characters, is a welcome corrective for those of us who sometimes lose the forest for the trees. It is written for readers with no prior knowledge of Chinese culture or language, but even literary scholars and seasoned readers of Stone will find in it all kinds of interesting insights. -- Andrew Schonebaum * Journal of the American Oriental Society *
The explanations of the material and social culture of premodern China and the slow and gentle pace with which Egan and Pai introduce literary and philosophical themes make Companion ideal for general readers who want to take on the project of reading The Story of the Stone in its entirety. * Nan Nu *
The book is particularly suitable for courses in Chinese literature and comparative literature. Pai Hsien-yung and Susan Chan Egan have made a great contribution to the connection of Chinese and world literature. * Journal of Asian Studies *