本书是中国著名学者、红学家周汝昌先生《曹雪芹新传》的英文版，介绍了小说家曹雪芹（1715~1763）的生平经历及其旷世之作《红楼梦》的创作源泉。值得一提的是，本书是迄今为止关于曹雪芹的唯一的英文传记。
“2002年，本书的编辑Ronald R. Gray第一次与周先生晤面，当时他刚读完杨宪益先生翻译的英文版《红楼梦》并深深着迷。Gary对周先生的‘对于西方人来说，阅读《红楼梦》是了解中国传统文化最愉悦的方式’深表赞同。……周说‘这本译著为中西文化的沟通又架起了一座重要的桥梁。’”（详见《ChinaDaily》2009年12月22日）

【作者/ 编辑/译者简介】
Zhou Ruchang (周汝昌) is one of Chinas foremost experts on the Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou meng). Born in 1918 and educated at Yenching University, he has published over eighty-eight books, the majority of them dealing with the Dream of the Red Chamber. His first book, New Evidence on Honglou meng (《红楼梦新证》), published in 1953, is considered a classic in Honglou meng studies.

Ronald R. Gray holds degrees in philosophy from Brown University and the University of Colorado at Denver and has published papers on philosophical and Western approaches to Honglou meng. He lived in East Asia for twenty years and has taught at universities in Japan, South Korea, and China.

Mark S. Ferrara is Assistant Professor of English at the State University of New York, Oneonta. He is the former director of the Chinese Cultural Exchange Program at Drake University and has taught in South Korea, China, and on a Fulbright Scholarship in Turkey.