Quotes from Tina Lu

As modern readers of masterpieces like The Plum in the Golden Vase and The Story of the Stone know, some degree of "unfinishedness" was to be expected, and perhaps desired, even in novels of undeniable craft and artistry by tremendously sophisticated authors. Vernacular novels were intentionally circulated not as finished products, but with room for readers, as well as editors and commentators, to contribute their own thoughts.