China's Avant-Garde Fiction

by Wang, Jing; Fei, Gei (CON); Goldblatt, Howard; Chou, Eva Shan

• ISBN13: 9780822321163
• ISBN10: 0822321165
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-04-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Filled with mirages, hallucinations, myths, mental puzzles, and the fantastic, the contemporary experimental fiction of the Chinese avant-garde represents a genre of storytelling unlike any other. Whether engaging the worn spectacle of history, expressing seemingly unmotivated violence, or reinventing outlandish Tibetan myths, these stories are defined by their devotion to theatrics and their willful apathy toward everything held sacred by the generation that witnessed the Cultural Revolution. Jing Wang has selected provocative examples of this new school of writing, which gained prominence in the late 1980s. Contradicting many long-cherished beliefs about Chinese writers-including the alleged tradition of writing as a political act against authoritarianism-these stories make a dramatic break from conventions of modern Chinese literature by demonstrating an irreverence toward history and culture and by celebrating the artificiality of storytelling. Enriched by the work of a distinguished group of translators, this collection presents an aesthetic experience that may have outraged many revolutionary-minded readers in China, but one that also occupies an important place in the canon of Chinese literature.Chinars"s Avant-Garde Fictionbrings together a group of exceptional writers (includingRaise the Red Lanternauthor Su Tong) to the attention of an English-speaking audience. This book will be enjoyed by those interested in Chinese literature, culture, and society-particularly readers of contemporary fiction. Contributors. Bei Cun, Can Xue, Gei Fei, Ma Yuan, Su Tong, Sun Ganlu, Yu Hua Translators. Eva Shan Chou, Michael S. Duke, Howard Goldblatt, Ronald R. Janssen, Andrew F. Jones, Denis C. Mair, Victor H. Mair, Caroline Mason, Beatrice Spade, Kristina M. Torgeson, Jian Zhang, Zhu Hong

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Remembering Mr. Wu You

Green Yellow

Whistling

The Noon of Howling Wind

1968

This Story Is For Willow

Flying Over Maple Village

The Birth of the Water God

The Brothers Shu

The Hut on the Mountain

The Big Drugstore

I Am a Young Drunkard

More Ways Than One to Make a Kite

A Wandering Spirit

Acknowledgment of Copyrights

Contributors

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