The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel: Ssu Ta Ch'i-Shu

Andrew Plaks reinterprets the great texts of Chinese fiction known as the "Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel" (ssu ta ch'i-shu). Arguing that these are far more than collections of popular narratives, Professor Plaks shows that their fullest recensions represent a sophisticated new genre of Chinese prose fiction arising in the late Ming dynasty, e