The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature ed. by Victor H. Mair, Mark Bender (review)

CHINOPERL Papers No. 30 270 FRPSDULVRQ ZLWK 'LVQH\¶V Mulan (1998) or Maxine Hong KingVWRQ¶V Woman Warrior   0RUHRYHU WKLV YROXPH¶V LQWURGXFWLRQ DQG bibliography will be of interest to scholars of Chinese culture. By bringing together more versions of the Mulan legend than other previous studies, WKLVFROOHFWLRQSURYLGHVDULFKDQGQXDQFHGSLFWXUHRI³WKHPXOWLSOLFLW\RI >0XODQ¶V@LGHQWLWLHV´ S[LL $V,GHPDREVHUYHV³VKH>0XODQ@LVDIWHUDOO QRVWUDQJHUWRFKDQJH´ S[[[LL  Carolyn FitzGerald Auburn University The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature. Edited with an introduction by Victor H. Mair and Mark Bender. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. xvi + 640 pp. The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature is the latest addition to the already very impressive series of anthologies of Chinese literature from Columbia University Press. For Western students and aficionados of Chinese folk and popular literature, the publication of this anthology should be considered no less than epoch-making. While the scholarly and academic interest in Chinese oral- and performance-based literature has been dramatically growing in the United States and the Western world at large, the need for a comprehensive collection that can serve as both a textbook and a reference book has been increasingly felt. To be sure, a number of other collections in the field have come into existence in recent years, but they focus either on a certain genre or on a particular story-cycle. The Columbia Anthology is the first volume in the English language that offers a truly panoramic view of Chinese folk and popular literature. Indeed it presents a very colorful tapestry, as the selected works here are not only from all major oral and oral-related genres, but also from many different regions and ethnic groups of what the HGLWRUVDSWO\FDOO³DSOXUDOLVWLF&KLQD´ S  7KH HGLWRUV¶ DSSURDFK LQ WKH VHOHFWLRQ LV PRUH V\QFKURQLF WKDQ diachronic, as many of the works, especially those from the non-Han ethnic groups, are drawn from living traditions and collected over the postCultural Revolution decades that witnessed a revival of popular culture in BOOK REVIEWS 271 many parts of the country. Even those works that are from oral- and performance-related genres prevalent in premodern times, such as zidi shu ᆀᕏᴨ EDQQHUPHQ¶V VWRU\  DQG baojuan ሦধ (precious scroll), have relatively short textual histories no longer than four hundred years. Among other things, this approach itself reflects the complex relationship and often fluid and shifting borderlines between popular literary tradition and the so-called elite literary tradition. As is generally known, many works IURP &KLQD¶V HDUO\ RUDO DQG SHUIRUPLQJ WUDGLWLRQV KDYH ORQJ EHHQ canonized and become staples in mainstream literature. Chinese folk and popular literature, therefore, is a dynamic field that constantly reshapes DQG UHGHILQHV LWVHOI 7R IRFXV RQ WKH PRVW UHFHQW DGGLWLRQV WR &KLQD¶V enormous corpus of oral- and performance-based literature is therefore a decision that is at once both wise and a necessity. ,QWKHLQWURGXFWLRQQLIWLO\WLWOHG³µ,6LW+HUHDQG6LQJIRUW@KH YHUVHV DUH MRLQHG OLNH D VWULQJ DQG WKH YRLFH LV VRXQGHG LQ UDSLG succession like a chain of pearls, such as a series of statements or words SRXUHG LQ DQ DVFHQGLQJ RUGHU RI UKHWRULFDO IRUFH RU LQWHQVLW\´ S   Indeed, much care has gone into making the texts, so many of which are SURVLPHWULF³VLQJ´ On a different front, the editors and contributors have done remarkably well at indicating the larger cultural fabrics that inform each of the selected works. For many of the folk and performing traditions, the anthology is extremely informative about the ways their fortunes have been affected by the many social, economic, and technological changes that have happened over the years. The reader is constantly reminded that the selected works should be read in the context of their indigenous cultures. Thus we are told that the Mosuo story, ³*RGGHVV*HPu,´PXVW EHUHDGZLWKDQXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKH0RVXRSHRSOH¶V³ZDONLQJ-PDUULDJH´ system. By the same token, with regard to the Tu folk story, ³7KH4HR )DPLO\ *LUO´ ZH DUH SURPSWHG WR QRWH WKH ³WUDGLWLRQDO FRPSOH[ relationships between family members, particularly the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-ODZ...