The Water Margin or Outlaws of the Marsh
My reading
plans were thrown into a mess when I accidentally bought a children’s edition
of this book. Sure it looks sweet with nice drawings, but at 53 pages it seemed
a poor substitute for a story spanning in its complete form 120 chapters. So,
with some delay I found another version, abridged, but substantial enough to
cover the essential story and the feel of the novel.
“Outlaws of
the Marsh” is another story attributed to Luo Guanzhong, this time together
with a fellow named Shi Nai’an, and that means that we again are on uncertain
ground on the actual origin and that there probably are a hundred different
versions of the story. That also means that I can only really speak for the
version I read.
I found it
an enjoyable read. A huge advantage with Chinese writing is that the written
language does not age. In a western translation you simply pick the modern
equivalent of the word the Chinese symbol represent and so the language never
gets quite archaic. Add to that the colorful language used and the action
packed sequences and you get the picture. This is low brow enough for most
readers, all the way down to my level.
“Outlaws of
the Marsh” is a Chinese Robin Hood tale of a gang of outlaws in 12th
century China who preys on the rich and supports the poor while upholding a
chivalrous moral code amid a sea of corruption and power abuse. That would
explain the longevity of the tale and why it also works for us in the west.
The Liangshan
Marsh gang is a sprawling gallery of characters, the leaders alone count 108
individuals. That is also the largest weakness of the story. With names like
Song Jiang, Li Kui, Zhui Gui or Wu Song I quickly got lost in the characters.
The first half of the book is a recounting of how each of them got to the marsh
and while each of these stories are interesting it also means we only follow a
character for a chapter or two before he disappears from the story for a long
while as the book proceeds to the next character. By the time his name pops up
again I would often have forgotten exactly who this character was. As the story
loves to make long lists of names it becomes blurry to say the least. Even a
reader well versed in Chinese names is bound to get confused.
Individually
the characters are great. An officer turned monk to escape the law is kicked
out of his temple for decidedly unholy behavior. Another hero gets drunk and
decides to cross a mountain with a dangerous Tiger. Each of them are guilty in
some vice, sometimes even capital crimes, but always their intent is good and
so they are the kind of flawed heroes most people can relate to. With our
modern sensibilities some of them definitely cross the line. Wanton violence
and anger is not as excusable as it used to be and it is sometimes difficult to
see how the outlaws are better than those they fight.
The second
part of the book recounts some of the battles the Liangshan Marsh bandits gets
involved in. Battles that are punitive against some slight or raids to get
resources. Usually with the bandit being smarter than their opponents, snaring
them into some trap or using guile to outwit them. Most noteworthy is a battle
that kills the bandit leader Chao Gai and the subsequent war lead by the new
leader Song Jiang (a man of many virtues) to revenge his death.
Not
everything is great though and while some of that can be ascribed to the age
and cultural differences they are still jarring. Women are rare in the book.
When they appear they are consistently described as wanton whores, unreliable, fickle
and weak. They act with no honor, are greedy and generally to be avoided.
Another item I had a hard time coping with was the way a vanquished foe would
be absorbed by the bandits and even straight away become a member of the
leadership. It does not matter how loyal he is or how deeply he despises and
hates the bandits, once defeated he will actively join their cause. There is
probably something here I do not understand about Chinese culture, but it sounds
very strange to me. At the very least such a vanquished enemy would be
unreliable and to be handled carefully, not made your leader. With the magnate
Lu Junyi this becomes even grotesque. The gang wants him to join so he is lured
from the city into the region of the marsh. Lu Junyi is eager to fight the
bandits so when they challenge him he rush headlong and singlehandedly into
battle against an enemy hundreds of soldiers strong. The battle is fierce, but
largely due to his stupidity the bandits gets him outmaneuvered. Defeated he
now joins the ranks and the gang wants to make this complete idiot one of their
leaders. Hmmm…
There are
bound to be a number of issues with very old stories from far away countries so
I am tolerant and let them pass and it does not change that this is a very
enjoyable read and much recommended. I think I will use the children edition
for my son. Maybe make the women look nicer.
