larryhammer: floral print origami penguin, facing left (anime)
Larry Hammer ([personal profile] larryhammer) wrote2012-12-09 08:33 am
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"I was looking for the breath of life / a little touch of heavenly light"

In John Minford's translation of Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Penguin Classics), in the story "Grace and Pine," a character encounters a book titled Jottings from a Distant Realm, which is glossed in the endnotes with:
An echo of an actual work of the Mongol dynasty, recounting expeditions into fairy realms. Here it is a condensed and elegant way of indicating that Kong has entered an otherworldly (fox-spirit) dimension. (p.512)
Does anyone have ANYTHING elucidating this? What's the original title, and is it available in English?

---L.