page 19
"I lit incense, knelt on a pillow, and looked up at the two large ancestor portrait scrolls that hung on the wall above the altar table. On the left was my grandfather, an imperial scholar who had brought great dignity, security, and wealth to our family. In the painting, he sat in his robes, his legs spread, a fan open in one hand. His face was stern, and the skin around his eyes was wrinkled from wisdom and worry. He died when I was four, and y memory of him was of a man who preferred silence from me and had little tolerance for my mother or for the other women in our household.
"To the right of the altar table in another long school was my father's mother. She also wore a severe expression. She had a position of great honor, in our family and in the country, as a martyr who'd died in the Cataclysm (note: this is the overthrow of the Ming dynasty by the Manchus). In the years leading up to her sacrifice, my grandfather had served as the Minister of Works in Hangzhou. My grandfather left the Chen Family Villa here in Hangzhou and traveled two days by boat and by palanquin to live with him in Yangzhou. Not realizing disaster was coming, my parents went to Yangzhou for a visit. Soon after they arrived, the Manchu marauders invaded..."
Page 112
"Forty-nine days after my death, my family crowded into our ancestral hall for the dotting of my ancestor tablet and final goodbye. Storytellers and a handful of singers gathered in the courtyard. Someone of great distinction - a scholar or member of the literati - is always given the honor of placing the final precious dot on the ancestor tablet. Once this was done, a third of my soul would be transferred to the tablet, where it would watch over my family. The dotting would allow me to be worshipped as an ancestor and give me a place to inhabit on earth for all eternity. My dotted ancestor tablet would also be the object through which my family would send their offerings to sustain me in the afterworld, make requests for my help, and provide comfort to me as a way of averting potential hostility In the future, when my family embarked on a new business venture, named a child, or considered a marriage proposal, they would consult me through my tablet..."
C 2007 by Lisa See
Random House Publishers
REVIEW: PEONY IN LOVE was a wonderful read as a novel. It is set in a turbulent time in which some Chinese women took advantage of a revolution to venture out of lives lived actually hobbled by foot binding and the seclusion expected of upper class women. These women became poets and writers, many writing of the suffering of love. It's also apparent that Lisa See did her research not only on the literary progress of women in China in the 17th century but also into the Chinese spiritual belief in hungry ghosts, those who died without having family to honor them. The excerpts above is from the early stages of the novel and in the voice of Peony who becomes a hungry ghost herself. I hope I've tantalized you into reading this novel!
Christine
