Rereading the Stone: Desire and the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber.
Yu's book is one of the most important studies on Hongloumeng to appear in recent decades. It is full of insights and refreshing readings. It is a work of erudition and intellectual discernment, and it will undoubtedly become a classic in Honglou meng study. One of its many important contributions is its success in drawing our attention to the centrality of desire in premodern Chinese culture and its intimate relationship with Chinese literature."--Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies