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| Zero and Other Fictions
ISBN: 9780231528054
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Columbia University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Taiwan -- Fiction; City and town life -- Fiction; Political fiction Chinese; Satire Chinese;
Four of the best works by award-winning Taiwanese author Huang are anthologized in this first-ever English translation, which covers four distinctive periods in the author's literary life. "Lai Suo," written in 1979, reflects work from Huang's political period. The story focuses on a Taiwanese ex-con who had been imprisoned for 20 years for his supposed involvement in a Taiwan independence conspiracy. Lai Suo's new lease on life is shaken by the thought of confronting the movement's leader, Mr. Han, who has surprisingly reappeared in Taipei. Two slim entries follow: "The Intelligent Man," a smart, satirical fiction about the unexpected opportunities arising from migrating to America and starting a business, and "How to Measure the Width of a Ditch," an unremarkable first-person allegory of youth and obsession with Taipei's "excrement channel." Taking its cues from Orwell's classic 1984, the last entry, Fan's unsettling 1981 science fiction novella "Zero," concerns postapocalyptic survivor Xi Jin, who questions the dictatorial authority of a host of policing "ministries" and bureaus, and makes himself a target of the agencies' omnipresent overlords. These character-driven stories illustrate the range of Huang's creativity and narrative dexterity-a feat considering the brevity of these shining tales.(Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Huang Fan (b. 1950) is a prominent Taiwanese writer who gained recognition in the 1980s with his short story "Lai Suo." From 1993 to 2002, he retreated to a monastery to study Buddhist scripture, refusing all contact with the outside world. He subsequently recaptured the world's attention with the publication of "Impatient Country," "College Thief," and "Surmising a Cat," and has since won every major literary award offered in Taiwan.
John Balcom is an award-winning translator of Chinese literature, philosophy, and children's books. He teaches translation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, where he ran the Chinese program for many years. Publications include Taiwan's Indigenous Writers: An Anthology of Stories, Essays, and Poems, and There's Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night by Cao Naiqian, both of which won a Northern California Book Award. |
