Hòu Hónglóumèng 後紅樓夢
Sequel to the Dream of the Red Chamber by 白散雲花外居史士
About the work
Hòu Hónglóumèng 後紅樓夢 is a 30-chapter Qīng-dynasty sequel novel (xùshū 續書) to Hónglóu Mèng 紅樓夢 KR4k0131, composed by two authors writing collaboratively under the joint pen name “Báisàn Yúnhuā Wàijū Shǐshì” 白散雲花外居史士 (a telescoped combination of “Báiyún Wàishǐ” 白雲外史 and “Sànhuā Jūshì” 散花居士). The work includes an elaborate pseudonymous publication apparatus designed to give the impression that it is a genuine unpublished sequel by Cáo Xuěqín 曹雪芹 himself.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Prefaces
The Kanripo text preserves a rich set of paratexts. The principal preface (xù 序) by “Xiāoyáo Zǐ” 逍遙子 states that while everyone knew Cáo Xuěqín still had “後紅樓夢三十卷” (thirty chapters of a sequel), no one had been able to find them — until “Báiyún Wàishǐ” 白雲外史 and “Sànhuā Jūshì” 散花居士 (“this Báisàn pair”) finally located the original manuscript, complete and undamaged. With its alleged “Xuěqín hand-certified” seals (xuěqín shǒudìng 雪芹手定) and the “Xiāosiàng guǎn” 瀟湘館 seal (the studio of Lín Dàiyù 林黛玉), the preface perpetuates a deliberate fiction that this is Cáo Xuěqín’s own continuation.
The text also contains a purported “Original Preface” (yuán xù 原序) in the form of a letter from “Cáo Tàifū Rén” 曹太夫人 (Cáo Xuěqín’s mother) to her son, a brief tící 題詞 (title poem) by “Báiyún Wàishǐ” 白雲外史 and another by “Sànhuā Jūshì” 散花居士, and a “Summary of the preceding Hónglóu Mèng” (zhāixù qiánshū jiǎnmíng shìlüè 摘敘前書簡明事略) reconstructing the plot of the original for readers who have not read it. These apparatus elements constitute a substantial critical-reception document in their own right.
Abstract
Despite its pseudonymous publication as a Cáo Xuěqín autograph, the work is a composite production of two Qīng authors. The preface names the discovery-agents as Báiyún Wàishǐ 白雲外史 and Sànhuā Jūshì 散花居士; the combined authorial attribution “Báisàn Yúnhuā Wàijū Shǐshì” 白散雲花外居史士 in the catalog is a condensed blend of both names. The two poem-writers’ tící are signed separately: “Báiyún Wàishǐ mànTí 白雲外史漫題” and “Sànhuā Jūshì mànTí 散花居士漫題.”
The narrative begins at the Pílíng Yì 毗陵驛 (Piling Postal Station, at the junction where the family disperses at the end of the 120-chapter original), with Bǎoyù returning home and encountering the miraculously revived Dàiyù 黛玉 and Qíngwén 晴雯. The detailed “摘敘前書” summary preceding chapter 1 — a unique feature among Hónglóu Mèng sequels — provides an extended retelling of the plot with the perspective of Lín Dàiyù’s tragedy and Wáng Xīfèng’s 王熙鳳 villainy at the center, suggesting the Hòu Hónglóumèng aims to correct what the authors see as an unsatisfying ending.
Dating. The preface by Xiāoyáo Zǐ mentions that a rival text “Hòu Hónglóu 後紅樓” had already appeared in print (“他氏已有後紅樓之刻”) before the Bǔ 補 of Guī Chúzǐ 歸鋤子 KR4k0136 was completed (1819). This suggests the Hòu Hónglóumèng was published somewhat before 1819. Scholars generally date the text to c. 1796–1820; the notBefore is 1796 (the approximate earliest plausible date) and notAfter 1820.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
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