The Dream of the Red Chamber
CAS Freshman Seminar
FRSEM-UA 461
Instructor: Jing Wang
Email: jw82@nyu.edu
Office phone no. 212-998-9067
Office location: 19 University Place, room 509.
The Dream of the Red Chamber is a splendid work produced by Cao Xueqin in the
middle of the18th century. Following the traditional form of Chinese fiction, known
as “the chaptered novel,” it covers a vast terrain of Chinese culture and social life
and is widely regarded as the culmination of the vernacular novel of imperial China
and a synthesis of Chinese aesthetic and philosophical traditions.
Originally titled “The Story of the Stone,” the novel tells the story of a sentient stone
thrown into the everyday world in its human reincarnation. With reference to the
Goddess Nuwa repairing the sky, the novel raises a series of questions concerning
the relationship between heaven, earth, human beings, and things; the origin of
what it is to be human; its spiritual nature; the relationship between emotion and
talent; and the development, the suppression, and the waste of talent. At the center
of all this is the true meaning of the human emotion and affection (qing), and their
relationship to the moral order and social-cultural convention (li). What constitutes
the “story” is thus a narrative account of the stone’s worldly experiences, its tragic
fate and its reflections on a heartless world.
In The Dream of the Red Chamber, one sees the novel’s intellectual strength
seamlessly combined with its artistic and stylistic power. The novel’s structure is
underscored by a whole range of contradictions and binary opposites: the rise and
fall of individual and collective fortunes, the blossoming and the withering of youth,
beauty, and life; momentous gathering and sad dispersal; sympathy and apathy,
attachment and detachment, passion and indifference; the beautiful and the ugly;
the good and the evil. The original design as it was envisioned by Cao Xueqin
himself entails 108 chapters, which are divided in the middle to form two
symmetrical halves, each including 54 chapters, that stand for the swift change and
radical contrast of life. The intricate foreshadowing and echoing and the subtle
mutual references between the two parts gives rise to a rich construction of duality
and multiplicity in meaning, symbolism, metaphor and allegory. Within this overall
formal arrangement, the novel is punctuated at every 9th chapter with a pause, an
episodic end, marking either the conclusion or a new beginning of a major
development.
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In terms of literary characterization, The Dream of the Red Chamber presents an
“endless scroll painting”. There are several hundreds of characters in the novel,
each and everyone of them distinct, vivid and memorable, occupying his or her own
concrete world, possessing his or her own experiential and emotional particularity.
The 108 girls’ stories all evolve around that of Baoyu—the reincarnated stone---but
only to show their own liveliness. In many ways The Dream of the Red Chamber is
about youthful love. However, “love” in this context has transcended the narrow
confines of conventional love affairs and attended the “great compassion, great
understanding” of an enlarged and all-encompassing Self.
Such convoluted and neatly arranged structure, coupled with a dazzling array of
characters, together turns The Dream of Red Chamber into one of the most complex
and colorful novels ever known.
TEXTBOOKS
The Story of the Stone (Volume I-III., Translated by David Hawkes, and published by
Penguin Classics)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Students must thoroughly finish reading assignment before the class, and should expect to
be called upon to recite any character and plot in class discussion.
PLEASE NOTE that you are about to read the most complex novel in Chinese literary
history and there are over three hundred characters in the book. Your preparedness before
the class and participation in the class will be a significant part of your final grade, as noted
in the way your grade will be calculated.
GOUND RULES
1, Absence can be excused only for religious reasons or health problems. In cases of illness, it’s
student’s responsibility to submit documentation in a timely manner, and failure to do so in
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the case of multiple and/or extended absence will negatively affect your academic standing in
the class. An unexcused absence will result in up to 4 point deduction from your final grade.
2, It is essential that you are punctual when attending classes.
3, Two pages long weekly response should be handed in before the class begins.
Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
Attendance, Reading Prep, and Participation 20%
Weekly Response (in two pages long) 50%
Final Exam (a final paper in ten pages long, no in-class exam) 30%
Course Schedule（subject to change if necessary）
Week 1. Chapter 1 (page 45-66)
Discussion points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Origin of the Stone
Motives of writing the story
The ideas of Buddhism and Taoism
Jia Yu-cun, and the Zhen family
Song of Bu-liao(Won-Done Song)
Week 2. Chapter 2-4 (page 67-124)
Discussion points:
1) The first meeting of Bao-yu and Dai-yu
2) The Rong-guo House
3) Mandarin’s Life-Preserver
Week 3. Chapter 5 ( page125-148)
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Discussion points:
1) The Land of Illusion
2) Jinling’s twelve beauties (in main register and two supplementary
registers)
3) Lures of senses
4) Lustfulness
5) The twelve songs of “The Dream of Red Chamber”
Week 4. Chapter 6-9 (page 149- 216)
Discussion points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Display of the Rong-guo House in Grannie Liu’s eyes
Flowers from the royal court
Lady Qin’s brother
The Golden Lock and the Magic Jade
An uproar in the classroom
Week 5. Chapter 10-16 (page 217-323)
Discussion points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Xi-feng, and the birthday celebration in Ning-guo house
The death of Jia-rui, and the Mirror of Romance
The death of lady Qin, and her last words in Xi-feng’s dream
Qin-zhong’s pleasures and his journey into night
Week 6. Chapter 17-18 (page 324-374)
Discussion points:
1) The construction of Prospect Garden
2) A test of Bao-yu’s talent in literature
3) Yuan-chun’s family reunion
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Week 7. Chapter 19-27 (page 375-page525 in volume I., and page23- 40 in Volume
II.)
Discussion points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Bao-yu and his maids: Xi-ren (Aroma), Qing-wen (Skybright)
The artful Ping-er (Patience) and her masters
Bao-yu’s awakening, and the lantern riddles
A shared reading of “Western Chamber”
Secret love between a maid and a young master
Two old acquaintances
Dai-yu weeps for fallen blossoms by the Flowers’ Grave
Week 8. Chapter 28-36 (page 41-212)
Discussion points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Male bond and the drinking game
The Summer Festival, and the new heights of passion
Jin Chuan-er (Golden)’s death, and Ling Guan (Charmente)’s love
A torn fan, and the lost kylin
The Chastisement, and the old handkerchief
Aroma’s marital settlement
Week 9. Chapter 37-45 (page 213-405)
Discussion points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
The Crab-Flower Club, and the themes of chrysanthemum
Grannie Liu’s revisit
Superior tea, and vulgar accommodation
Xi-feng’s birthday, and a young man’s remorse
A sisterly understanding, and an autumnal melancholy
Week 10. Chapter 46-54 (page 406-582 in Volume II., and page 19-44 in VolumeIII.)
Discussion points:
1) The old master’s awkward mission
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2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
A fearful beating, and a hasty getaway
Xiang-ling (Caltrop)’s poetry learning, and the black-hearted Jia Yu-cun
Flowers in dazzling snow
Xi-feng’s sisterly love, and the admirable Qing-wen
The Spring Festival
Week 11. Chapter 55-63 (page 45-247)
Discussion points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
A capable daughter, and a foolish concubine
Another Jade Boy, and the trouble with mirrors
A test to Bao-yu
Chun-yan (Swallow), Caiyun (Sunset), Fan-guan (Parfumee) and
Mamma He
5) The Cook Liu and her daughter
6) The Death of Jia-jing
Week 12. Chapter 64-72 (page 248-434)
Discussion points:
1) The death of two sisters
2) The Kites
3) Financial troubles, and disputes
Week 13. Chapter 73-80 (page 435-613)
Discussion points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
A raid on Prospect Garden
The lives of Xi-chun and Ying-chun
The Mid-autumn Festival, and the flute –playing
The linked verses, and the presence of Miao-yu
The death of Qing-wen (Sky-bright), and the Invocation of Hibiscus
Lady Wang
Xue Pan and his termagant wife
Week 14. Final Exam (a final paper in ten pages long, no in-class exam)
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