Water Margin

Book excerpt: Based upon the historical bandit Song Jiang and his companions, The Water Margin is an epic tale of rebellion against tyranny that will remind Western readers of the English classic Robin Hood and His Merry Men. This edition of the classic J. H. Jackson translation brings a story that has been inspiring readers for hundreds of years to life for modern audiences. It features a new preface and introduction by Edwin Lowe, which gives the history of the book and puts the story into perspective for today's readers. First translated into English by Pearl S. Buck in 1933 as All Men Are Brothers, the original edition of the J.H. Jackson translation appeared under the title The Water Margin in 1937. In this updated edition, Edwin Lowe addresses many of the shortcomings found in the original J.H. Jackson translation, and reinserts the grit and flavor of Shuihui Zhuan found in the original Chinese versions, including the sexual seduction, explicit descriptions of brutality, and the profane voices of the lower classes of Song Dynasty China. Similarly, the Chinese deities, Bodhisattvas, gods and demons have reclaimed their true names, as has the lecherous, ill-fated Ximen Qing. This 70-chapter book includes much that was sanitized out of the 1937 publication, giving Anglophone readers the most complete picture to date of this classic Chinese novel. While Chinese in origin, the themes of The Water Margin are so universal that they have served as a source of inspiration for numerous movies, television shows and video games up to the present day.