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1882
Volume 71, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0017-0461
  • E-ISSN: 2507-0401

Abstract

Abstract

A Chinese story, originally included in Feng Menglong’s collection (1624), was made known to the West in 1735 through father Dentrecolles’s translation, included by Du Halde in his monumental In it the wife of the philosopher Zhuangzi, after his faked death, breaks her vow never to remarry, and when her new suitor falls ill, she attempts to remove the brain from her husband’s corpse, after she is told this would be the only effective cure. But Zhuangzi comes back to life and she hangs herself. Similarities with Petronius’ tale of the matron of Ephesus were immediately pointed out. Some scholars maintained that Petronius had taken the theme from the Orient, but the differences between the Eastern and the Western stories can hardly be ignored.

Abstract

Una novella cinese, facente parte in origine della raccolta di Feng Menglong (1624), fu resa nota in Occidente dalla traduzione di Padre Dentrecolles, inclusa da Du Halde nella sua monumentale In essa la moglie del filosofo Zhuangzi, dopo che questi ha simulato la propria morte, infrange il voto di non risposarsi, e quando il nuovo pretendente si ammala tenta di asportare il cervello dal cadavere del marito, dopo aver saputo che questo sarebbe la sola cura; ma Zhuangzi torna in vita e la donna si impicca. Somiglianze con la novella petroniana della matrona di Efeso vennero immediatamente additate. Alcuni studiosi ritengono che Petronio abbia ripreso il tema dall’Oriente, ma le differenze tra le due storie non possono essere ignorate.

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2019-01-01
2025-12-06

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