Hsi-wei Tales by Robert Wexelblatt
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 2.6MB
Overview: After performing a perilous service for the future Emperor, the peasant Chen Hsi-wei turns down the customary rewards in favor of receiving an education. The Court is astonished by this unheard-of request but orders the strict teacher Shen Kuo to do what he can with the boy. In the course of copying out the words of the ancient masters, Hsi-wei begins writing poems of his own. As a young man, Hsi-wei leaves the capital for a vagabond life, supporting himself by making straw sandals. The peasant/poet travels throughout the Empire, encountering people of all stations and occupations, trekking through landscapes both flat and mountainous. He learns of the terrible price of building the Grand Canal, the miseries caused by floods, droughts, and endless wars. Behind him, Hsi-wei leaves well-made sandals, small acts of justice, and poems. To his astonishment, Hsi-wei gains a degree of fame, first as a curiosity, then as a writer whose poems are beloved by the people and pass into the vast life of China.
Hsi-wei Tales is an imaginative, vivid creation that brings historical Sui Dynasty China alive: the rich, the educated, the politically privileged, the working class, and the poorest of the poor, all are tied together by a humble, itinerant shoemaker who is a skilled craftsman and a famous (yet unassuming) poet. He has the wisdom of the careful observer wed to the humility of someone who is unaware of his gifts. He values the shoes he makes more than his poems, but his poems and life have the loveliness one finds in work that is finely crafted. He is a wanderer, a lover of simple things, and has the gift of finding beauty and joy in conversation and interaction with anyone of any class, as long as they commit themselves to embracing the world.
The stories are deceptively simple, with depths that repay more than one reading. Characters are finely drawn with delicate brush strokes that one would expect from the best of ancient Chinese artists and calligraphers. Hsi-wei is a welcome guest whose presence is more than ample payment for allowing him to visit.
Genre: Fiction > General Fiction/Classics
Hsi-wei’s Skull
How Hsi-wei Became A Vagabond
Hsi-wei’s Famous Letter
Hsi-wei’s Justice
Hsi-wei’s Grandfather
Hsi-wei and the Tale of the Duke of Shun
The Sadness of Emperor Wen
Hsi-wei and the Hermit
Yellow Moon at Lake Weishan
Hsi-wei and the Good
Hsi-wei Cured
Hsi-wei, the Monk, and the Landlord
Hsi-wei and the Exile
Hsi-wei and The Magistrate
Hsi-wei and Mai Ling’s Good Idea
The Bronze Lantern
Hsi-wei and the Funeral
Hsi-wei’s Letter to Ko Qing-zhao
Hsi-wei’s Visit to Ko Qing-zhao
Hsi-wei and the Witch of Wei Dung
Hsi-wei and the Grand Canal
Hsi-wei and the Rotating Pavilion
Hsi-wei and the Liuqin Player
Hsi-wei and the Twin Disasters
Hsi-wei and the Southern War
Hsi-wei and the Village of Xingyun
Hsi-wei and The Three Threes
Hsi-wei’s Last Poem
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