The Story of Stone: Intertextuality, Ancient Chinese Stone Lore, and the Stone Symbolism in Dream of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, and The Journey to th

In this study of three of the most familiar texts in the Chinese tradition - all concerning stones endowed with magical properties - Jing Wang develops a reconstruction of ancient Chinese stone lore. Wang’s comparison of these classic works illuminates the various tellings of the stone story and provides new insights into major topics in traditional Chinese literature. Uniting classical Chinese studies with contemporary Western theoretical concerns, Wang examines these stone narratives by analyzing intertextuality within Chinese traditions. She offers interpretations to long-standing critical issues, such as the paradoxical character of the monkey in The Journey to The West , the circularity of narrative logic in Dream of the Red Chamber , and the structural necessity of the stone tablet in Water Margin .