Imperfect paradise / Shen Congwen / edited by Jeffrey Kinkley ; translated from the Chinese by Jeffrey Kinkley, Peter Li, William MacDonald, Caroline Mason, David Pollard.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 529-533).

New and Old; Paradise and Perdition. The New and the Old. The Husband. The Lovers. Quiet -- The Vitality of the Primitive. Meijin, Baozi, and the White Kid. Ah Jin. The Inn -- Military Lives. My Education. The Company Commander. Staff Adviser. Black Night -- Country Folk. Ox. Sansan. Life. Guisheng -- Revolution and Urban Malaise. The Vegetable Garden. Big Ruan and Little Ruan. Eight Steeds -- Later Elegies and Meditations on the Country Folk. Winter Scenes in Kunming. Amah Wang. Qiaoxiu and Dongsheng -- Modernist Works. The Housewife. Suicide. Gazing at Rainbows -- Nonfiction Works. Songs of the Zhen'gan Folk. The Celestial God.

"A master of the modern short story and one of the finest Chinese prose stylists of all time, Shen Congwen (1902-1988) left a body of work acclaimed for its thematic and emotive range, its innovative literary beauty, and its continuing popularity and influence. Imperfect Paradise provides the most comprehensive and authoritative representation in English of the remarkable Shen Congwen canon, ranging from the polished stories that made him a serious contender for the Nobel literary prize in the 1980s to lesser known, extravagant experimental pieces."--Jacket