The Wallet of Kai Lung

By Ernest Bramah

Book Overview

The Wallet of Kai Lung is a collection of fantasy stories by Ernest Bramah, all but the last of which feature Kai Lung, an itinerant story-teller of ancient China. It was first published in hardcover in London by Grant Richards in 1900, and there have been numerous editions since. Its initial tale, The Transmutation of Ling, was also issued by the same publisher as a separate chapbook in 1911. The collection's importance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by the anthologization of two of its tales in the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series, edited by Lin Carter and published by Ballantine Books; "The Vision of Yin" in Discoveries in Fantasy (March, 1972), and "The Transmutation of Ling" in Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy Volume II (March, 1973). Although the collection is presented in the fashion of a novel, with each of its component stories designated chapters, there is no overall plot aside from each of the first eight tales being presented as narratives told by Kai Lung at various points in his itinerant career. The final tale is represented as being from a manuscript left by its own separate first-person narrator, Kin Yen.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1974538591
• ISBN13: 9781974538591
• Release Date: August 2017
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Books to keep forever

Ernest Bramah is , in my humble opinion, one of the greatest weavers of tales ever. He has the ability to make me swoon with his wonderful use of words, his wit and humor.

An enjoyable read

Well written, enjoyable, and chock-full of subtle moral lessons. At a time when so much of what passes for fantasy writing is nothing more than junk, Wallet of Kai Lung does not pretend, like so many others, to be like Tolkien, or anyone else. It's just a good, fun, read all on its own.

This humble reviewer can not possibly do this book justice..

Bramah sure can spin a phrase. The book is a collection of stories told by Kai Lung, and as such is excellent. You are transported back into this fictional China, where introductions can take hours as the two people flatter each other & humble themselves endlessly. The stories are very amusing, but be forewarned; the language takes some time to read through & comprehend. Not a book to breeze through (but oh so rewarding when you do read it!)

Truely great book

The Kai Lung books have a nice dry humour, a beautifully way of turning a phrase and a concoluted way of using the english language. It is a China that never was but really ought to have been.