Rouge Inkstone
Encyclopedia
Rouge Inkstone or Red Inkstone (脂硯齋/脂砚斋; pinyin
; Zhī Yànzhāi, literally: "Rouge Inkstone Studio") is the pseudonym
of an early, mysterious commentator of the 18th-century Chinese
novel
Dream of the Red Chamber
. This person (a man or a woman) was a contemporary of the author Cao Xueqin
, who knew the author intimately enough to be regarded as the chief commentator of his work, while it was still unpublished. Most early handcopied manuscript
s of the novel contain red ink commentaries by a number of unknown commentators, which were nonetheless considered still authoritative enough to be transcribed by scribes. Rouge Inkstone is the most prominent of these commentators. Early copies of Dream are known as 脂硯齋重評石頭記 ("Rouge Inkstone Comments Again on The Story of the Stone"). These versions were known as 脂本, or "Rouge Versions", in Chinese. They are the manuscripts with the highest textual integrity.
Rouge Inkstone clearly had finished reading Cao's finished draft to reveal details which would otherwise be lost to later generations. For example, it is his/her comments which led scholars to learn about the original ending. Rouge Inkstone also conclusively identified the work as Cao Xueqin's. Orthodox Redologists
rely extensively on Rouge Inkstone's notes for research and scholarly speculation, although the identity of Rouge Inkstone remains a mystery.
Redology
scholar Zhou Ruchang speculates that Rouge Inkstone was a woman, the second wife and cousin of Cao Xueqin and the person on whom the character Shi Xiangyun
was based. This hypothesis has not been universally accepted and Rouge Inkstone's identity continues to be shrouded in mystery. British Sinologist David Hawkes
speculated Rouge Inkstone was Cao's "kinsman-collaborator". Maram Epstein hypothesizes the name "Rouge Inkstone" may be merely a "compilation of voices"
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
; Zhī Yànzhāi, literally: "Rouge Inkstone Studio") is the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of an early, mysterious commentator of the 18th-century Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber , composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is considered to be a masterpiece of Chinese vernacular literature and is generally acknowledged to be a pinnacle of...
. This person (a man or a woman) was a contemporary of the author Cao Xueqin
Cao Xueqin
Cao Xueqin was a Qing Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature...
, who knew the author intimately enough to be regarded as the chief commentator of his work, while it was still unpublished. Most early handcopied manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s of the novel contain red ink commentaries by a number of unknown commentators, which were nonetheless considered still authoritative enough to be transcribed by scribes. Rouge Inkstone is the most prominent of these commentators. Early copies of Dream are known as 脂硯齋重評石頭記 ("Rouge Inkstone Comments Again on The Story of the Stone"). These versions were known as 脂本, or "Rouge Versions", in Chinese. They are the manuscripts with the highest textual integrity.
Rouge Inkstone clearly had finished reading Cao's finished draft to reveal details which would otherwise be lost to later generations. For example, it is his/her comments which led scholars to learn about the original ending. Rouge Inkstone also conclusively identified the work as Cao Xueqin's. Orthodox Redologists
Redology
Redology is the study of the novel Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Classics of China. There are many researchers in this field, most can be divided into four general groups. The first group is the commentators, such as Zhou Chun, Xu Fengyi, Chen Yupi, and others. The second group is...
rely extensively on Rouge Inkstone's notes for research and scholarly speculation, although the identity of Rouge Inkstone remains a mystery.
Redology
Redology
Redology is the study of the novel Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Classics of China. There are many researchers in this field, most can be divided into four general groups. The first group is the commentators, such as Zhou Chun, Xu Fengyi, Chen Yupi, and others. The second group is...
scholar Zhou Ruchang speculates that Rouge Inkstone was a woman, the second wife and cousin of Cao Xueqin and the person on whom the character Shi Xiangyun
Shi Xiangyun
Shi Xiangyun is a major fictional character in Dream of the Red Chamber. She is Baoyu's younger second cousin by the Dowager, Grandmother Jia. Xiangyun is the favorite grandniece of the Dowager, Baoyu's grandmother....
was based. This hypothesis has not been universally accepted and Rouge Inkstone's identity continues to be shrouded in mystery. British Sinologist David Hawkes
David Hawkes (scholar)
David Hawkes was a British Sinologist. He studied Mandarin Chinese and Japanese at Oxford University between 1945 and 1947 and was a research student at the National Peking University from 1948 to 1951. During the later years of World War II he taught Japanese to military cryptolinguists and...
speculated Rouge Inkstone was Cao's "kinsman-collaborator". Maram Epstein hypothesizes the name "Rouge Inkstone" may be merely a "compilation of voices"
Famous comments by Rouge Inkstone
- "If, according to this, Xueqin is merely the work's editor, who then wrote the preface thus far? You can see now how extremely cunning the author could be." (若云雪芹披阅增删，然则开卷至此这一篇楔子又系谁撰？足见作者之笔狡猾之甚。)
- The single comment (transcribed in the Jiaxu manuscript) which established Cao as the book's author by modern Redologists.
See also
- Odd TabletOdd TabletOdd Tablet , or more literally, Elderly Maimed Tablet , was a mysterious commentator of the 18th-century Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. He sometimes signed himself as merely 畸笏...
- another Red Chamber commentator who was related to Cao and Rouge Inkstone.