Of Woman by Woman

R.W.L. Guisso and Lenny Hu have both published extensively in their respective fields of Chinese history and Chinese literature, and they have collaborated previously in translation of erotica. Here they provide an extensive introduction explaining the context of the two novellas, Lord of Perfect Satisfaction, and Memoir of a Crazy Old Woman, written in the mid-16th century. During the Ming rule (1368-1644) the restraints of Confucian morality were loosened, only to tighten up again in subsequent years, when the two novellas were banned. Interestingly, they are still censored in China today, because of their explicit content. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

R.W.L. Guisso was educated at the universities of Toronto, Kyoto, and Oxford, and Lenny Hu at Shanghai Normal University and the universities of Illinois, British Columbia, and Toronto. Both have published extensively in their respective fields of Chinese history and literature. Among Professor Guisso’s publications is the standard biography of Wu Zetian, Wu Ts’e-t’ien and the Politics of Legitimation in T’ang China (1978), while Professor Hu is translator of The Embroidered Couch (2001) and has recently published several articles on China’s best-known erotic novel, The Plum in the Golden Vase (Jin Ping Mei). Their most recent collaborative translation, In the Inner Quarters, was chosen as the best book in the category of erotica by the American Association of Independent Publishers in 2004.