While there are a number of monographs on special themes or genres of late imperial Chinese literature, Tina Lu's Accidental Incest, Filial Cannibalism, and Other Peculiar Encounters in Late Imperial Chinese Literature is impressive for its broad scope. The fascinating topic and her knowledge of diverse genres make this book a significant contribution to the study of late imperial Chinese literature.
The book consists of seven chapters and an epilogue. Chapter 1 introduces the theme of the book, the wulun (five normative relations) in the context of movement across the empire. Based on a sample of several Ming-Qing chuanqi plays, this chapter also highlights the book's anthropologically influenced methodology. The rich second chapter treats seventeenth-century round-trip journeys in vernacular short stories, focusing on the transaction of goods and commodities (including women as men's property) throughout the empire. Chapter 3 concerns the separation of families as a result of the dynastic transition. In late Ming narratives, husband–wife separation caused by a change in dynasties indicates the primal fear of luanlun or incest. In narratives from the early Qing, reunion takes place through the new political order.
Chapter 4 deals with a single early Qing story, “On a Journey to Vietnam a Jade Horse Miniature Is Exchanged for Crimson Velvet.” Lu argues that the empire, which was the conventional and closed mode of the Confucian polity, could not encompass the world outside. Thus, Lu provocatively suggests that, in the story, the Confucian polity and its political ideology are not universal but local. Chapter 5 explores filial relations as represented in round-trip journeys and the practice of gegu (cutting off a piece of flesh from one's thigh to cure a parent's or an in-law's illness). Based on these stories, Lu argues that filiality precedes all other virtues, including political loyalty. Lu further argues that children and money are comparative investments, proposing an “arithmetic of filial piety.”
The final three chapters treat the genre of the long novel, emphasizing the world as a network of relations rooted either in kinship or in voluntary associations. Chapter 6 treats Jinpingmei (Plum in the Golden Vase). Focusing on the ending of the novel, Lu argues that the Ximen household, the town of Qinghe, and even the eastern capital are a world of inevitable luanlun. Chapter 7 in turn examines Hongloumeng (Dream of the Red Chamber) from the perspective of the borders of family. Citing insights from anthropological literature on marriage patterns, this chapter considers space in terms of inside and outside. Lu asserts that the Jia family and Baoyu see themselves as unique and thus engage in marriages that border on incestuous. Lu's epilogue uses Rouputuan (The Carnal Prayer Mat) to discuss the author's thoughts on the genre of the novel from the perspective of the connection between individuals and a community or the public sphere. Another theme reiterated in this chapter is the connection between normal human relations and reunions. While Rouputuan's ending provides a perverse mirror image of reunions, the reunion also signifies a confrontation between the forces of infinitude and luanlun.
This book promises an analysis of genre. The first half of the book deals with the short story, while the second half treats the long novel. Indeed, Lu's occasional comparison of the vernacular short story and the long novel sometimes strengthens our understanding of these genres. Still, this reader would have preferred a more focused treatment of genre. Chapter 5, especially, is thematically arranged, and it encompasses biography, the classical tale, and the vernacular story. One wonders whether the two types of filial relations would be represented differently in different genres.
In her discussion of the literary expression of filial piety in narrative, Lu identifies three filial acts: the round-trip journey, gegu, and arranging for a parent's burial. Lu only treats the first two; why she omits the third is not clear, although she argues that “the dead parent awaiting burial no longer can punish or reward the child; anything done for such a parent takes place fully outside the ties of reciprocity, obligation, and exchange” (p. 156). This ignores that, in the case of a parent's burial, one more actor is often brought in: the supernatural, either the ghost of the deceased or a deity. In Chinese religious practice, an untimely or inappropriate burial offends the supernatural world. The ghost may inflict vengeance on the living, even his or her own child, or the gods may punish the child for unfilial acts. Arguably, the ties of reciprocity, obligation, and exchange extend beyond this world.
Despite these quibbles, Lu's theoretical insights and innovative methodology make this book a welcome contribution to the study of late imperial Chinese literature.
