Luo Guanzhong

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 15th-century novelization of the events of China's 3rd-century Three Kingdoms period. The novel revolves around Liu "Xuande" Bei and his chief minister Zhuge "Kongming" Liang as they combat Cao Cao, a Chinese prime minister who has made the Imperial family his puppet rulers. Mixed into this is the sometimes-ally sometimes-enemy Sun clan, whose Southland has declared independence from the declining Imperial court. While much of the book revolves around military tactics (which here is often outright trickery), the later stages of the book pit Xuande's loyalty to his two oath-brothers against his desire for good strategy and administration (the latter of which is almost always backed by Kongming). As historical novelizations do, this account attributes conversations and emotions to characters that could not possibly be known, but the author stays pretty true to historical events and timelines. Unlike in many modern novels, all of the main characters in this story grow feeble and die--not just in physical stature, but also in mental acuity, which is a little heartbreaking to read. While I generally gravitate toward more modern works, I definitely appreciated this book in its context as one of the great works of Chinese literature.… (altro)