This blog presents a selection of Chinese literature, and I want to introduce the writer Han Jin.
Currently a professor of English at Boston University, he started his career writing propaganda during China's Cultural Revolution as a soldier in the Red Army. He is the third non-native English speaker to win the National Book Award for Fiction in the United States in 1999. He is best known for his novels Waiting and War Trash.
Ha Jin's latest work of historical fiction, Nanjing Requiem, recounts the brutality of the Japanese occupation of China's former capital city in 1937. In 1937, with the Japanese poised to invade Nanjing, Minnie Vautrin—an American missionary and the dean of Jinling Women’s College—decides to remain at the school, convinced that her American citizenship will help her safeguard the school and the welfare of the Chinese men and women who work there. She is painfully mistaken. In the aftermath of the invasion, the school becomes a refugee camp for nearly 10,000 homeless women and children, and Vautrin must struggle, day after day, to intercede on behalf of the hapless victims. Even when order and civility are restored, Vautrin remains deeply embattled, and she is haunted by the lives she could not save
Ha Jin shares five favourite novels that tell the story of his homeland.
Monkey by Wu Cheng'en, translated by Arthur Waley
Waley's condensed translation is a very readable version. The novel is extremely popular in Asia and has shaped many people's imaginations. For an unabridged, multivolume version of this classic, titled Journey to the West, read the translations by W.J.F. Jenner and Anthony Yu.
Waley's condensed translation is a very readable version. The novel is extremely popular in Asia and has shaped many people's imaginations. For an unabridged, multivolume version of this classic, titled Journey to the West, read the translations by W.J.F. Jenner and Anthony Yu.
Rickshaw Boy by She Lao
A novel of social realism set in old Beijing (in late 1920s). It is a story of a small man's struggle to find a place in a society that has no space for his success. All his efforts end only in new losses. As a result, his personality deteriorates, and he becomes a villain of sorts. The novel is populated with lively characters and suffused with compassion and pathos.
A novel of social realism set in old Beijing (in late 1920s). It is a story of a small man's struggle to find a place in a society that has no space for his success. All his efforts end only in new losses. As a result, his personality deteriorates, and he becomes a villain of sorts. The novel is populated with lively characters and suffused with compassion and pathos.
Selected Stories by Lu Hsun
Lu Hsun is regarded as the founder of modern Chinese literature. He is also a great essayist, and naturally his fiction often appears essayistic. In this volume there are some great short stories, such as 'A Madman's Diary,' 'An Incident,' 'Village Opera,' 'The New Year's Sacrifice,' and others. These stories embody a great spirit and intelligence that often make the reader uneasy, but they shed light on the underside of humanity.
Lu Hsun is regarded as the founder of modern Chinese literature. He is also a great essayist, and naturally his fiction often appears essayistic. In this volume there are some great short stories, such as 'A Madman's Diary,' 'An Incident,' 'Village Opera,' 'The New Year's Sacrifice,' and others. These stories embody a great spirit and intelligence that often make the reader uneasy, but they shed light on the underside of humanity.
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua
This contemporary novel is already a masterpiece, widely read in China. Yu Hua has a marvellous eye for details that reveal the quality of the characters' daily existence. The novel shows how common Chinese at the bottom of society lived in the tumultuous years of the political upheavals. The hardship, the violence, the poverty, the wretchedness, nothing could reduce their humanity.
This contemporary novel is already a masterpiece, widely read in China. Yu Hua has a marvellous eye for details that reveal the quality of the characters' daily existence. The novel shows how common Chinese at the bottom of society lived in the tumultuous years of the political upheavals. The hardship, the violence, the poverty, the wretchedness, nothing could reduce their humanity.
Red Sorghum by Mo Yan
This novel was published in the 1980s and started the author's brilliant career. Mo Yan is a passionate and visceral writer. His fiction is full of fresh, earthy, and sensual details. The narrator of this novel tells his grandparents' story, which is highly imaginative and at times mysterious, lyrical, and brutal. It celebrates vitality, heroism, sexuality, and even death. Since its publication, it has become a landmark book in contemporary Chinese fiction.
This novel was published in the 1980s and started the author's brilliant career. Mo Yan is a passionate and visceral writer. His fiction is full of fresh, earthy, and sensual details. The narrator of this novel tells his grandparents' story, which is highly imaginative and at times mysterious, lyrical, and brutal. It celebrates vitality, heroism, sexuality, and even death. Since its publication, it has become a landmark book in contemporary Chinese fiction.
Reference: goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/)
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