Title

Xiaoshuo as “Family Instruction” : The Rhetoric of Didacticism in the Eighteenth-Century Chinese Novel Qilu Den

Author

Martin W. Huang

Genre

Article  

Pages

67-91

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Language

English

Key words

family Instructions, didacticism, novel

Abstract

    What is unique about the eighteenth-century novel Qilu deng (the Warning Light at the Crossroads) is the fact that in its initial circulation many hand-copied versions of the novel had also the novelist’s “Jiaxun zhunyan” (the Earnest Words of Family Instructions) attached. Obviously, the novel and the family instructions were meant to be read together. One should not feel too surprise if one is aware that some traditional bibliographers had always classified zhengui (writings of admonishment) as one kind of xiaoshuo. Obviously, Qilu deng was meant to be read as “fictionalized ” family instructions. This essay offers a close reading of the novel together with the “Jiaxun zhunyan,” exploring the complicated relationships between the two. One of the conclusions it reaches is that the novel is often most compelling when it reads the least like family instructions despite or because of its jiaxun agenda.