Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend, with Related Texts

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Description

The legend of Mulanthe daughter who disguises herself as a man, dons her father's armor, and heads off to war in his placeremains one of the most popular Chinese folktales despite (or because of) its lack of supernatural demonstrations or interventions. In addition to a translation of the earliest recorded version of the legend, this volume offers translations of several later iterations of the tale (including the screenplay of the hugely successful 1903 Chinese film Mulan Goes to War) that illustrate the many ways in which the basic story has been reinterpreted over centuries to reflect changes in Chinese cultural, political, and sexual attitudes.

Reviews

Idema's scholarship . . . [and his] ability to translate popular texts into comparably idiomatic English are outstanding achievements.--Hugh R. Clark, Ursinus College
The plots and the elaborations of the Mulan narratives reproduced (and summarized) here demonstrate the many ways in which the Mulan figure has spoken to succeeding generations with differing heroic characteristics and in the idiom that each audience understood; they offer excellent texts for a deep background for any consideration of Mulan in contemporary culture. For scholars of European fairy tales, the narratives offer striking points of comparison with European crossdressing heroines of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.--Ruth B. Bottigheimer, Stony Brook University

Author Bio

Shiamin Kwa received her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. Wilt L. Idema is Professor of Chinese Literature, Harvard University.