The Water Margin

Outlaws of the Marsh

De: Shi Naian, J. H. Jackson - translator, Edwin Lowe - translator

Narrado por: Jonathan Booth

The Water Margin is one of the most popular classics of early Chinese literature. It tells the vigorous story of 108 characters who, falling foul of the established state authorities, are forced to become outlaws. They form a bandit community in Liangshan Marsh, becoming such a formidable force in their own right that they threaten the power of government itself.

The author, Shi Nain, writing in the 14th century, the time of the Ming Dynasty, presents the tale with all the force and directness of a live story-teller. He describes in some detail the numerous one-to-one combats with a wide variety of weapons, as well as hand to hand fights. Despite written over half a millennium ago, it all seems very familiar to the contemporary listener, for the style lives on in the Chinese martial arts movies of today.

He pulls no punches with the events themselves. There is deception, murder, torture, adultery, beheadings and massacre on a grand scale, reflecting the disorderly nature of the time—it is set 200 years earlier in a lawless period during the Northern Song dynasty.

But the power of the story lies in the portrayal of the individuals who cover the wide spectrum of human kind. There are the honorable figures, wrongly branded on the face as criminals and forced to wear the heavy cangue—the massive wooden collar, punishing and restricting movement. There are the mighty warriors who, despite good deeds (killing tigers that are terrorizing the neighborhood) are forced to flee established society by powerful but envious officials. There are monks displaying varying degrees of ethical behavior. And there are some who simply love to fight, anywhere, anytime, with any weapons, and find themselves most comfortable in the outlaw milieu.

The Water Margin has come down to us in various forms—its huge size attracted abridgements—and the version recorded here is the 70-chapter chronicle by Jin Shengtan, dating from the 17th century. The translation by J. H. Jackson appeared in the 1930s. But it has been recently revised by Edwin Lowe, who wanted to bring back the earthy flavor of the original, reintroducing the strong language, the brutality and the unexpurgated nature of Shi Nain's language.

In short, it is a rip-roaring tale, unrelenting in its energy, more akin to the modern thriller than the elegant, reflective character one would expect from a Chinese classic! Nevertheless, it often exhibits the features of the morality tale with wise aphorisms.

Jonathan Booth gives a virtuoso presentation with vivid characterization of the principals, and the hundreds of minor individuals who pop up in this detailed account of medieval life in the raw.

©2010 translation by J. H. Jackson and Edwin Lowe (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd

A truly excellent story and such an easy listen

In order to understand this story, is a good idea to see the kung fu movie "Seven Blows of the Dragon" as this aids in the visualization of the story. The movie is based on the story, but don't expect the characters to match the actual story.

But this story is incredibly easy to listen to despite its length. There is a continual flow of wine and vegetables and there is none of the typical flying through the air or magical kung fu or any of that. It's just a very good almost fairytale story about a number of characters and how some of their decisions led them down one path and not another. This is sort of a early Chinese version of the long winded Russian "War and Peace", without the nationalistic confetti.

This is an audiobook that you listen to when you want some quiet time, and can just sit back and relax and let the events in the books just flow. I didn't feel any anxiety or one of those things where you would say "let's just get to the end and see how it ends"; each one of these chapters are stories in and of themselves.

The narrator is very easy to listen to. There's no anxiety and his narration just flows very easily.

This is one of those books that is sitting on the back of the library shelf, that is a real gem that needs to be discovered.

very interesting and culturally important

This is considered to be one of the four most important novels. It is interesting both, as a tale of adventure and as a historic and cultural piece.

nice portrayal of a classic.

an old classic worth a listen. Surprisingly well done in English. Historical notes are also worth the listen.

Very relatable

It always amazes me how similar the social situations are that people are faced with, no matter the time or place.

Exciting! Each story entwined with one another!

I enjoyed that when you go from one story to another, it does have a special connection to the previous story, and that is what I mean when I say it's **entwined** with one another.

This is the first time I've listened to a 24-hour book consistently throughout a week. It helps me relax, not overthink so much, and actually **helps put** me to sleep, which is really great for me since I have trouble sleeping."

Great sprawling story

The historic based story is colored with many different and unique characters as the story builds to magical ending.

Top notch Chinese classic

A superb narration. Stories that are easy to understand. It’s one if the top Chinese classics, still widely read.

Amazing story

Well read. The only thing that needs to be improved is the pronunciation of the Chinese names.

May be best in small portions

Tales of the 108 Outlaws of the Liangshan Marsh who overthrow corrupt government rule.
The inspiration for dozens of novels, comics, movies, TV shows, etc, Mao carried a copy with him.
It can be engaging and humorous, but its reciprocal Confucionist approach leads to the most murderous heroes I've read. Almost cartoonishly wanton violence, lacking in dimension. And there's a sameness to many of the stories.
Still, as a springboard of ideas for historical fiction or fantasy writers, worth considering.

In historical context

Knowing its cultural and historical context matters. Wish translations from the Chinese could retain the pithiness of idiom. It would be nice if somehow a bilingual edition was overlaid with it explaining metaphor and idiom and its source and influence. The narrator is skilled but I don't think I would have chosen him for this work. English accented characters turn it into a Monty Python skit. I want to try the Chinese text so refamiliarizing myself here helps. Both with frequent rests and diversion.