On metaphor of diseases in the classical Chinese novel Liaozhai Zhiyi

Diseases in literary works are by no means just a simple physiological or medical phenomenon. Rather, they should be understood as metaphors that reflect viral or bacterial invasions, the unhealthy state in physiology and psychology, the worry of the looming death, and the goodness and evil in humanity. The novel LiaozhaiZhiyi (Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio) by Pu Songling (1640–1715) Liaozhaiis a collection of more than 100 short stories in classical Chinese and is full of disease metaphors with rich connotations. Based on the analysis of the symbolic significance of disease metaphors in this novel, this paper points out the connotations of the metaphors on diseases that reflect and represent the corrupt and destabilizing feudal order and implications about the goodness and evil of humanity.