The Carnal Prayer Mat

This is a review of The Carnal Prayer Mat by the seventeenth-century Chinese author Li Yu, in the translation by Patrick Hanan. (In Chinese, family names are written first, so the author's surname is "Li.") This book is a classic that is sexy, witty, fast-paced and fun to read even if you don't like "classics." It also has interesting philosophical aspects that raise it above the level of simply an entertaining read. Some of these philosophical points are raised in the "Critique" sections that come at the end of every chapter (probably written by a friend of Li Yu's). You should be warned that this IS an erotic novel. It is not any more graphic than lots of popular novels today, but if you are offended by explicit sexual discussions, you should not read it. The novel's main character is Vesperus, an extremely talented scholar who has two ambitions in life: "to be the most brilliant poet in the world" and "to marry the most beautiful girl in the world" (p. 24). Vesperus is warned by the Buddhist monk Lone Peak that this second quest will lead him to numerous wicked acts. Because he wants only the most beautiful woman, he will never be satisfied with any woman he marries, and will even commit adultery with other married women if they seem more beautiful to him. And because of the law of karmic retribution, Vesperus will be punished, either in this life or the next, for his evil deeds. Vesperus scoffs at this admonition, so Lone Peak advises, "gain your enlightenment on the carnal prayer mat; then you'll discover the truth" (p. 30). What makes this novel so philosophically interesting is that we're never sure quite what perspective the novel takes on all this. At a surface level, the novel is a straightforward moral tale. In an introductory chapter, Li Yu tells us that he wants to teach people that a moderate amount of sex within marriage is good, but that excessive sex or sex outside of marriage is dangerous. He claims that his explicit sexual descriptions "are all designed to lure people into reading on until they reach the denouement, at which point they will understand the meaning of retribution and take heed" (p. 11). And, indeed, the life of Vesperus does follow a path that suggests such a message. However, there is much in the text that is potentially subversive. For example, Vesperus learns, to his surprise, that he is very poorly endowed compared to most men. Li Yu describes this as an opportunity for him to curb his inappropriate lust, comparing him to two Confucian sages noted for their sexual restraint: "Who knows, perhaps Lu Nanzi, who shut his door against an importunate widow, and Liuxia Hui, who kept his self-control with a girl on his knee, may have shared these very thoughts of his, thoughts that may have made them the leading paragons of all time" (pp. 105-106). Chinese thinkers were sophisticated enough to realize that virtue requires appropriate motivation, and that fear of sexual inadequacy is not a vir

Please note that the Ingram description shown above is for a different book. The Carnal Prayer Mat is about a lecherous Chinese scholar, not the memoirs of some Viennese schoolteacher.

This is a bona fide world classic in literature. It stands as a classic both in erotica and pure (if such a thing exists) literature. This fable follows the sexual exploits of Scholar Vesperus who learns to find wisdom on the Carnal Prayer Mat so to speak. He refuses to learn spiritual wisdom through earnest prayer and hence learns his lessons the hard way. (pun not intended) He has his many affairs and shamelessly cheats on his wife. He even becomes a bigamist with a second wife in another town. The trickery involved is hysterical. It is reminiscent of The DeCameron of Boccaccio in the sneakiness of the characters. The humor is also a fabulous trait. Honest Quan gaining revenge is the moralistic turn. The Golden Rule was never so funny. Vesperus steals Honest Quans wife so Honest Quan debauches Vesperus wife. Li Yu strikes a moralistic posture in telling this tale but one can not help but feel that he had a smashing good time writing this book. Each chapter ends with a moral to the action. It merely adds to the humor. One can not help but feel that Li Yu is yanking the readers chain. The names for sexual positions and the numerous jokes on penis size are exquisite. He is having too much fun with the story. The reader also is having too much fun to be preoccuppied with the morals of each chapter. Of course, Vesperus does ultimately come to wisdom in the end. We should be grateful that he did learn the hard way. It was a lot more entertaining for us. This book will really dispell a lot of Western prejudices that hold the Chinese to be demure and asexual. (Well, there are over a billion people in China so they must know something about sex, but I wont go there.) I suggest this book to anyone interested in erotica and to anyone smallminded enough to doubt the wonderful sensuality and sexuality of classic Chinese literature.

The best thing about THE CARNAL PRAYER MAT is not just that it's sexually adventurous -- it's that it's one of the FUNNIEST, craziest works of its kind. There are moments that are strikingly sophisticated and "modern", followed up by sexual antics that are as outrageous as anything in a Franz von Bayros print. Hong Kong's movie industry took the hint and has put out a series of (very) loose film adaptations (SEX AND ZEN, I-III), but the book remains forever tongue-in-cheekishly brilliant. A great choice for people who are getting fed up with acres of drippingly solemn Anne Rice-derived nonsense.

Really enjoyed this audiobook - the narrator was great - he seemed to get a kick out of the humor found throughout this classic fable. The descriptions of sexual positions are a hoot, and this tale manages to continue to be erotic almost 400 years after it was written!