Imperfect Paradise

by Shen, Congwen; Kinkley, Jeffrey C.; Li, Peter; MacDonald, William; Mason, Caroline; Pollard, David

• ISBN13: 9780824816353
• ISBN10: 0824816358
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr

Summary

A master of the modern short story and one of the finest Chinese prose stylists of all time, Shen Congwen (1902-1988) left a body of work acclaimed for its thematic and emotive range, its innovative literary beauty, and its continuing popularity and influence. Imperfect Paradise provides the most comprehensive and authoritative representation in English of the remarkable Shen Congwen canon, ranging from the polished stories that made him a serious contender for the Nobel literary prize in the 1980s to lesser known, extravagant experimental pieces.

Table of Contents

Fiction from Modern China	p. iii
Introduction	p. 1
New and Old Paradise and Perdition	p. 11
The New and the Old	p. 13
The Husband	p. 29
The Lovers	p. 54
Quiet	p. 66
The Vitality of the Primitive	p. 79
Meijin, Baozi, And The White Kid	p. 81
Ah Jin	p. 97
The Inn	p. 106
Military Lives	p. 117
My Education	p. 119
The Company Commander	p. 156
Staff Adviser	p. 172
Black Night	p. 187
Country Folk	p. 199
Ox	p. 201
Sansan	p. 222
Life	p. 257
Guisheng	p. 266
Revolution and Urban Malaise	p. 303
The Vegetable Garden	p. 305
Big Ruan and Little Ruan	p. 320
Steeds	p. 346
Later Elegies and Meditations On the Country Folk	p. 379
Winter Scenes in Kunming	p. 381
Amah Wang	p. 390
Qiaoxiu and Dongsheng	p. 401
Modernist Works	p. 429
The Housewife	p. 431
Suicide	p. 449
Gazing at Rainbows (the Shape of One Person's Life in ATwenty-Four Hour Period)	p. 463
Appendix: Nonfiction Works	p. 483
Foreword	p. 488
Bibliography	p. 529
Contributors	p. 535
Editor's Note	p. 537
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.