The Embroidered Couch An Erotic Novel of China By (author) Lu Tiancheng Translated by Lenny Hu Price: $16.95 CAD $12.95 USD ISBN: 9781551521015 EPUB ISBN: 9781551525310 (check your favourite retailer) Availability: In Stock. Usually ships in 24 hours. Added!

A book that is guaranteed to raise eyebrows, The Embroidered Couch is the first English translation of an erotic novel originally published in the early 17th century, attributed to Lu Tiancheng (b. 1580), a well-known playwright of the Ming dynasty.

Regarded as a notorious classic in Chinese literature, it has long been banned in China, and never been available in English until now; shockingly explicit even by today's standards, it details the travails of a romantic scholar named Easterngate, who encourages and is aroused by a relationship that unfolds between his pretty and demure wife Jin and his compadre (and occasional sex partner) Dali.

The story that follows is one of betrayal, lust, and revenge, played out against the extraordinary backdrop of 17th century China.

The book includes an introduction by translator Lenny Hu, which provides revealing historical and cultural context.

Full of the kind of courtly exoticism you might expect from so long ago . . . a lot racier than anything you find in Shakespeare, who was writing at the same time.
—The Globe & Mail

One of the raciest pieces of writing ever to come out of 17th century China. . .
—Broken Pencil

Hu's resurrection of this four-century-old classic benefits both gy literary studies and Chinese classical studies equally.
—Book Marks

Bottom line: ancient, Asian, and arousing.
—On Our Backs

. . . shows that the late Ming dynasty was about way more than delicate vases and tea ceremonies.
—Maclean's Magazine