View source for Li Yu (1611–1680)

{{Short description|Chinese playwright, novelist and publisher}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Li (surname 李)|Li]]|lang=Chinese}}
[[File:Portrait_of_Li_Yu.png|thumb|A portrait of Li Yu]]
'''Li Yu''' ({{zh|c=李漁|p=Lǐ Yú}}, given name: 仙侣 Xiānlǚ; [[courtesy name]]: 笠翁  Lìwēng; 1611–1680 AD), also known as '''Li Liweng''', was a Chinese playwright, novelist and publisher.
==Life and writings==
Born in [[Rugao]], in present-day [[Jiangsu]] province, he lived in the late [[Ming Dynasty|Ming]] and early [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] dynasties. Although he passed the first stage of the [[imperial examination]], he failed to pass higher levels before the political turmoil of the new dynasty, but instead turned to writing for the  market. Li was an actor, producer, and director as well as a playwright, who traveled with his own troupe. His play ''Errors caused by the Kite'' ({{Lang-zh|t=風箏誤|hp=Fēngzhēng wù}}) is performed in the Chinese [[Kun opera]] stage.<ref>Chun-shu Chang Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang, ''[[Crisis and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century China: Society, Culture, and Modernity in Li Yü's World]]'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,  1992), 48, 60–71, 161.</ref>
Li was also known for his informal essays, or ''xiaopin'' ({{lang|zh|小品}}), and for his [[gastronomy]] and gastronomical writings. [[Lin Yutang]] translated a number of these essays. Li's "On Having a Stomach" proposes that the mouth and the stomach "cause all the worry and trouble of mankind throughout the ages." He continues that the "plants can live without a mouth and a stomach, and the rocks and the soil have their being without any nourishment. Why, then, must we be given a mouth and a stomach and endowed with these two extra organs?"<ref>Yutang Lin, ''The Importance of Living'' (New York: John Day: Reynal & Hitchcock,  1937), 43.</ref> Lin also translated Li's  "How to be Happy Though Rich" and "How to be Happy Though Poor", and "The Arts of Sleeping, Walking, Sitting and Standing", which illustrate his satirical approach to serious topics.<ref>Yutang Lin, ''The Importance of Understanding: Translations from the Chinese'' (Cleveland: World, 1960).</ref>
Li was critical of [[Gambling in China|gambling]], describing dice as innocent objects transformed into devils in the hands of gamblers.<ref name="Chen2">{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Jiayi |title=Games & Play in Chinese & Sinophone Cultures |date=2024 |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |isbn=9780295752402 |editor-last=Guo |editor-first=Li |location=Seattle, WA |pages=138 |chapter=Ghostly Dicing: Gambling Games and Deception in Ming-Qing Short Stories |editor-last2=Eyman |editor-first2=Douglas |editor-last3=Sun |editor-first3=Hongmei}}</ref>
==Translations==
* [[Patrick Hanan]] et al. (1990). "Silent Operas (Wusheng Xi)". Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong. {{ISBN|978-9627255079}}
* Patrick Hanan (1996). ''The Carnal Prayer Mat''. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press. {{ISBN|0-8248-1798-2}}.
* Patrick Hanan (1998). ''Tower for the Summer Heat''. New York : Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-11384-6}}.
* Nathan K Mao (1979). ''[https://archive.org/details/twelvetowers0000unse/ Twelve towers : short stories]''. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. {{ISBN|962-201-170-5}}.
* [[Jacques Dars]] (2003). ''Au gré d'humeurs oisives : Les carnets secrets de Li Yu : un art du bonheur en Chine''. Arles : [[Éditions Philippe Picquier]]. {{ISBN|2-87730-664-X}}
* ''Jou-pu-tuan : Andachtsmatten aus Fleisch ; e. erot. Roman aus d. Ming-Zeit''. Frankfurt am Main : Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag. {{ISBN|3-596-22451-9}}. 1986.
* LI‑YU ''Jeou-P'ou-T'ouan, la chair comme tapis de prière'', translated by Pierre Klossowski; Éditions Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Paris, 1979
* Li Yu: ''À mari jaloux, femme fidèle'', by Pascale Frey 1998
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Sources and further reading==
* Chen, Duo, [http://www.wordpedia.com/search/Content.asp?ID=59914 "Li Yu"]. ''[[Encyclopedia of China]]'', 1st ed.
* Chun-Shu Chang and Shelley Hsueh-Lun Chang. ''[[Crisis and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century China]]: Society, Culture, and Modernity in Li Yü's World''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,  1992.   x, 452p. {{ISBN|0-472-10255-9}}.
* Owen, Stephen, "Li, Yu, ''Silent Operas (Wu-sheng xi)''," in Stephen Owen, ed. ''An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911''. New York: [[W. W. Norton]], 1997. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213825/http://courses.washington.edu/chin463/OwenSilentOpera.pdf p. 915-941]. (. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213825/http://courses.washington.edu/chin463/OwenSilentOpera.pdf Archive]).<!--Revealed on two pages: http://courses.washington.edu/chin463/Schedule.html https://www.webcitation.org/6PmyPFX5I, and http://courses.washington.edu/chin463/ https://www.webcitation.org/6PmyNNugV-->
* Patrick Hanan (1988). ''The Invention of Li Yu''. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-46425-7}}. Comprehensive overview of Li Yu's life and works, containing many substantial excerpts from Li Yu's essays, plays, short stories and novel.
* Andrea Stocken: Das Ästhetikkonzept des Li Yu (1610–1680) im Xianqing ouji im Zusammenhang von Leben und Werk. 2005 {{ISBN|3-447-05120-5}}
* HENRY, Eric: Chinese Amusement - The Lively Plays of Li Yü.Archon Books Hamden, CT 1980
* Воскресенский Д.Н. Ли Юй. Полуночник Вэйян или подстилка из плоти. (пер. с кит., предисл., коммент.) М., Гудьял-Пресс
*Воскресенский Д.Н. Ли Юй. Двенадцать башен (повести XVII в.). (пер. с кит., предисл., коммент.) М., Гудьял-Пресс
* {{cite ECCP|title=Li Yü}}
==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [[WorldCat]] Identity Page [http://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-n81-14376 Yi Li]
* [http://dannyreviews.com/h/Carnal_Prayer_Mat.html Brief review of ''The Carnal Prayer Mat'']
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Yu}}
[[Category:1611 births]]
[[Category:1680 deaths]]
[[Category:Chinese erotica writers]]
[[Category:Ming dynasty novelists]]
[[Category:Qing dynasty novelists]]
[[Category:Writers from Nantong]]
[[Category:Chinese male novelists]]
[[Category:Qing dynasty dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Chinese male short story writers]]
[[Category:Ming dynasty short story writers]]
[[Category:Qing dynasty short story writers]]
[[Category:Short story writers from Jiangsu]]
[[Category:People from Rugao]]
[[Category:17th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:17th-century Chinese novelists]]
[[Category:17th-century theatre managers]]