Dodo Collections brings you another classic from Bramah Ernest, ‘The Wallet of Kai Lung.’
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.
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.
Contents
"The Transmutation of Ling"
"The Story of Yung Chang"
"The Probation of Sen Heng"
"The Experiment of the Mandarin Chan Hung"
"The Confession of Kai Lung"
"The Vengeance of Tung Fel"
"The Career of the Charitable Quen-Ki-Tong"
"First Period: The Public Official"
"Second Period: The Temple Builder"
"The Vision of Yin, the Son of Yat Huang"
"The Ill-Regulated Destiny of Kin Yen, the Picture Maker"
Bramah was a reclusive soul, who shared few details of his private life with his reading public. His full name was Ernest Bramah Smith. It is known that he dropped out of Manchester Grammar School at the age of 16, after displaying poor aptitude as a student and thereafter went into farming, and began writing vignettes for the local newspaper. Bramah's father was a wealthy man who rose from factory hand to a very wealthy man in a short time, and who supported his son in his various career attempts.
Bramah went to Fleet Street after the farming failure and became a secretary to Jerome K. Jerome, rising to a position as editor of one of Jerome's magazines. At some point, he appears to have married Mattie.
