Wuxia recommendations?

[Sparkie]

Until now, my only experience with this genre has been through movies like Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, along with the Jade Empire video game. It wasn't until recently that I became aware of the literary tradition that spawned the above media. (In case you're wondering, yes I am a dolt.)

Does anyone have any reading recommendations for this genre in english?

 

[Darkblade]

Start with the classics and most widely known (therefore best translated) Journey to the West, The Water Margin, and Romance of Three Kingdoms (not technically Wuxia but closely related).

Beyond that you are in for a rough journey. The life of a Wuxia fan who does not read or speak Chinese is not an easy one. Few Chinese novels end up translated into English at all, fewer still of the Wuxia genre and barely any Wuxia is (officially) translated well. There are some fan websites that do translations of Wuxia stories to varying qualities, I won't link to them here though because it could be considered piracy (reading the stories in a way that the original author doesn't receive payment for).

That said though there are some good Wuxia stories written in English (some would argue that these are not Wuxia at all being written by Westerners but I believe genre is about the stories themselves not the people who write it). Among them Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone and Eight Skilled Gentlemen.

 

[blondie]

As a long-time fan of wuxia, I would recommend that you read the following novels:

By Jin Yong: The deer and the cauldron (I personally find the fan translation of this wuxia satire much more enjoying than the official one), The smiling proud wanderer (long novel about swordsmen, love, hatred, deception and greediness, fan translation available), Demi-gods and Semi-devils (arguably Jin Yong's greatest novel, unfortunately the fan translation is only about 85% completed), The legend of the condor heroes (a classic, old-fashioned wuxia novel but well worth a read as it has some of the most famous characters in wuxia), A Deadly Secret (a touching wuxia tragedy, fan translation available), The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (sequel to Condor Heroes, has a slow start but is very interesting overall).

By Gu Long: Bordertown Wanderer, Horizon - Bright moon- Saber, Sentimental Swordsman - Ruthless Sword, (all have been translated into English by fans, just google them)

By Huang Yi: A Step into the Past (long wuxia novel with fantasy and sci-fi elements)

And if you ever get tired of traditional wuxia, read Stellar Transformations, a new wuxia novel written in a different style than the above. It is still being translated by fans, though.

 

[stephenspower]

I'd never heard of wuxia as a genre until this thread, but, wow, is Bridge of Birds good.