This is the second Master Li novel I’ve read by Barry Hughart and it was just as much fun as the first!
Despite having read another book with the same main characters, it wasn’t until I was about half-way through this book that I realized I had ended up reading two Sherlock Holmes-type novels in a row (the first being Jackaby). Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just that I’m not a huge fan of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, so I find it interesting that lately I’ve been drawn to characters like him with a twist.
The twist in this series is that Master Li is Chinese, a drunk, and (kind of like Jackaby) the paranormal plays a big part. Hughart is unclear as to when the story takes place, but based on the references to Neo-Confucianism, I’m guessing early to middle of the last millennium.
In The Story of the Stone, the eponymous stone is a mythical stone that was created by a goddess, but because it had a single flaw, it was useless to her, so she cast it to Earth where it caused a great deal of trouble. Ancient philosophers, such as Chuang Tzu cast it away as being evil. It eventually ended up in the hands of an insanely cruel prince known as The Laughing Prince who lived about seven hundred years before the story takes place. There’s a legend that the prince will rise from his grave, and when monks in motley start dancing around the country and sections of the valley suddenly die, people are afraid the legend has come true.
Turns out that’s kind of the case, but it’s not the full story. I won’t ruin it for you by telling you who was behind it all, but suffice it to say it was an extremely entertaining read with a satisfying ending.
Socrates has been quoted as saying “I know that I know nothing”, despite being widely revered as a genius. Master Li is the same in that he is regarded by all as the most intelligent man in all China, but he keeps referring to his stupidity. Every time he comes to a realization, he kicks himself for not having seen it earlier (despite the fact that no one else saw it coming). He has absolutely no respect for the institution that taught him and granted him the highest academic honors in the country.
As someone who has recently been hearing a lot about the flaws in our current academic system, I certainly appreciated Master Li’s disdain for academics. It stunts creativity, and thereby reduces the ability to problem solve. Creativity doesn’t have a whole lot of respect in today’s culture. How many of us have been accused of having an “overactive imagination”? But it’s actually a key component of intelligence and should be valued and cultivated.
Master Li recognizes this and that’s probably what really makes him so intelligent. That and his willingness to accept ancient folklore. He believes in Heaven, Hell, and all the different gods and goddesses of ancient China, and apparently he’s right. So far, the two books about him that I’ve read have both ended with a connection to some sort of deity.
What about you guys? What did you read this week? Any new twists on old stories?
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