Hónglóu Yuánmèng 紅樓圓夢
The Round Dream of the Red Chamber by 臨鶴山人
About the work
Hónglóu Yuánmèng 紅樓圓夢 is a 31-chapter Qīng-dynasty sequel novel (xùshū 續書) continuing and “rounding out” the story of Hónglóu Mèng 紅樓夢 KR4k0131, written under the pseudonym Línhè Shānrén 臨鶴山人 (“Hermit of Crane Creek”). The text features a lùzi 楔子 (wedge/prologue) and 31 numbered chapters and aims to reunite Jiǎ Bǎoyù 賈寶玉 and Lín Dàiyù 林黛玉 as a married couple — the “round dream” (yuánmèng 圓夢, i.e., dream fulfilled) — satisfying reader desires frustrated by the tragic ending of the original.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The Kanripo text opens with a preface by “Liùrú Yìsūn” 六如裔孫 (“Descendant of Liùrú [Táng Yín 唐寅]”) dated Guāngxù dīngyǒu (光緒丁酉), spring, third month — i.e., 1897. This preface is not an authorial preface but a printer’s preface appended when the text was brought to publication: it praises the Yuánmèng for making Lín Dàiyù come back to life, Jiǎ Bǎoyù return home, and the lovers finally unite — “使天下有情人卒成眷屬” (enabling all lovers under heaven to eventually become a couple). The preface describes the work as having been written by “長白臨鶴山人” (Línhè Shānrén of Chángbái [i.e., Manchuria]), and attributes to it literary qualities equal to or surpassing the original.
The author’s identity as “Línhè Shānrén” and the Chángbái 長白 attribution suggest a Manchu or northeastern-Chinese background. The conventional date assigned to the work in secondary literature is around 1814 (Jiājìng 19); the notBefore is set to 1814 based on this scholarly convention, with notAfter 1897 (the date of the preface in the printed edition). The exact manuscript date remains uncertain.
The prologue features a fictional narrator figure, “Yuánmèng Xiānsheng” 圓夢先生 (Master of the Round Dream), who dreams himself into the Red Chamber world — a metafictional device mirroring the framing of the original. The 31 chapters then narrate the restoration of the Jiǎ family’s fortunes, the revival of Dàiyù 黛玉, and reunion-marriages (tuányuán 團圓) for the twelve beauties, culminating in chapter 31 with “彙群芳夢中說夢 結全案圓後重圓” (All beauties gathered, dream within dream; all accounts settled, circle upon circle).
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
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