Six Records of a Floating Life (Penquin Classics)

Six Records of a Floating Life (1809) is an extraordinary blend of autobiography, love story and social document written by a man who was educated as a scholar but earned his living as a civil servant and art dealer. In this intimate memoir, Shen Fu recounts the domestic and romantic joys of his marriage to Yun, the beautiful and artistic girl he fell in love with as a child. He also describes other incidents of his life, including how his beloved wife obtained a courtesan for him and reflects on his travels through China. Shen Fu's exquisite memoir shows six parallel "layers" of one man's life, loves and career, with revealing glimpses into Chinese society of the Ch'ing Dynasty.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

• Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood
• Emperor of China: Self-Portrait of K'ang-Hsi
• Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968
• The Search for Modern China
• Exemplary Tales of Love and Tales of Disillusion (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)
• Monkey: Folk Novel of China
• Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World
• Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, 2nd Ed
• Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai
• The Cambridge Illustrated History of China