Romance of the Three Kingdoms (SGYY) Purchase and Book Info

[James]

As far as I know, there is no professionally published eBook version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Most of them simply take the older online Brewitt-Taylor translation found at ThreeKingdoms.com and toss it into the eBook format, then charge anything from a couple bucks to an arm and a leg for it. None compare to a modern Brewitt-Taylor or Moss Roberts translation.

My advice? Put the eBook Reader down and read this one on old-fashioned paper.

[documn]

Ah I see. I am planning to get the Moss Roberts hardcovers, but I thought it would be nice to have something less bulky as well. Thanks for your input!

[ROTK-addict]

After looking at the comparison Lady Wu posted, I'm kinda confused which one to get now. It bothered me quite a bit when I saw the "So he regards me as a coward" and "So he regards me as a woman" part cause I think that's quite a big difference. Although my knowledge in written Chinese is quite limited but even in terms of spoken Mandarin, I've never came across with terms where both "coward" and "woman" use the same words. Maybe I shouldn't nitpick so much but perhaps anyone here that can give me an advice on which version would be better for me?

[James]

After looking at the comparison Lady Wu posted, I'm kinda confused which one to get now. It bothered me quite a bit when I saw the "So he regards me as a coward" and "So he regards me as a woman" part cause I think that's quite a big difference. Although my knowledge in written Chinese is quite limited but even in terms of spoken Mandarin, I've never came across with terms where both "coward" and "woman" use the same words. Maybe I shouldn't nitpick so much but perhaps anyone here that can give me an advice on which version would be better for me?

That isn't the biggest difference in translation given the context. There are going to be plenty of additional differences as well. When it comes down to it, the only thing the Brewitt-Taylor edition has on the Moss Roberts edition is an older, more stylized form of writing which lends itself better to the era. When I purchased my Brewitt-Taylor edition it was only available in Wade-Giles, but that's no problem at all for someone who is already familiar with the characters. The Moss Roberts edition is easier to read, follows a slightly more modern/Western style of writing, and includes a fabulous introduction and annotations.

[Lady Wu]

After looking at the comparison Lady Wu posted, I'm kinda confused which one to get now. It bothered me quite a bit when I saw the "So he regards me as a coward" and "So he regards me as a woman" part cause I think that's quite a big difference. Although my knowledge in written Chinese is quite limited but even in terms of spoken Mandarin, I've never came across with terms where both "coward" and "woman" use the same words. Maybe I shouldn't nitpick so much but perhaps anyone here that can give me an advice on which version would be better for me?

No, the the "coward" version is the web version, which is based on the CHBT translation. The original CHBT (as well as the Roberts) kept the "woman" part". When deciding between the CHBT and the Roberts, you are really considering the points James made:

CHBT
Pros:
- Stylized writing
- More of an "old-timesy-epic" feel

Cons:
- Uses Wade-Giles romanization
- No notes

Roberts
Pros:
- Notes galore and helpful commentaries and stuff
- Uses the more familiar Pinyin
- Slightly more modern style of writing; easier to read
- There's a dual-language edition which should be good for someone practising reading Chinese.

Cons:
- The 4-volume Foreign Language Press box set is full of typos
- The 2-volume University of California Press set is unwieldy. The notes are all at the end of volume 2, and there is no table of contents with the chapters listed (it's basically impossible to find a specific chapter in that edition).

[ROTK-addict]

Oh, thank you so much for both inputs. Unfortunately, I can only choose the foreign language press one or the one by tuttle publishing so I'm practically left with not much choice. But after weighing the pros and cons I think I'll get the foreign language press one since I'm more familiar with pinyin. Thanks again

[ThreeKingdomsFan]

Hello everyone. This is my first post. Like some people, I saw Red Cliff and became intrigued enough to read Three Kingdoms. For awhile I couldn't tell based on Amazon's reviews which was better the 4 volume box set or the 5 volume which could be purchased either in paperback or hardcover. I bought the 5 volume set in paperback thinking there was more content than the 4 volume set.

I loved Three Kingdoms so much, I read it twice already. However, I will say $50 for the 5 Volume Set is too high for the number of errors within:

-Numerous typos.
-Misprints in which pages from a previous chapter suddenly reappear in the next chapter for no explicable reason. It only occurs in one of the volumes, but is quite distracting.
-The notes that appear on the end of Vol. 5 also have a misprint in which notes from another chapter (or possibly volume) appear before the official notes for Vol. 5 begin.
- Some of the pages actually stuck together. I tried to separate them, but it only resulted with a tiny rip in the pages.
I can forgive the typos, but the misprints I can't.

The other day I saw the Vol. 1 -4 Box Set at a Half Price Bookstore. Unfortunately, I didn't have the money to buy it. However, I took a quick look and it would appear it is actually unabridged, but what's more amazing: there's an afterword, a list of characters, and a list of the events in chronological order. One would think these might be in the 5 volume set from Foreign Language Press. Perhaps it is, but only in the hardcover version. I can only verify that it definitely does not in the paperback version.

I should have bought the Vol. 1-4 set. I don't know if other paperback versions of the 5 volume set had similar misprints, but those thinking about it should be weary of it. It would appear you get more bang for the buck with the 1-4 set with the events, character lists and afterword.

[Tao Qian]

Hi,

I've seen that this version is the one of threekingdoms.com, just copied into ebook, someone knows if it was done by threekingdoms.com themselves?

I suppose not, because they forgot to add the footnotes, that are actually quite useful.

[Tao Qian]

In case someone tries to answer, I already asked them. Thanks.

[Tao Qian]

It seems there is a new Moss Roberts ebook for the fiftheen aniversary, it's a pity that is the abridged version.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Kingdoms-Hi ... 1392471634