Good Soldier

Ocean of Words

"When I wrote The Good Soldier, I had no idea of ​​military literature in mind; I simply wanted to write a good novel. I served in the People's Liberation Army for five years and met all sorts of people with extraordinary abilities, but after a few years, they were all 'useless', doing nothing and achieving nothing. The Good Soldier is permeated with a powerful theme: how young lives gradually become aware of themselves, how they learn to doubt, how they re-evaluate the meaning of life, and strive to discover their own path and bravely walk it forward." - Ha Jin

There are revolutions with guns and revolutions with pens.

How does an individual survive in a collective?
This debut work uses a subtle and concise style to depict how the life of a Chinese army is lived and torn under the party's thinking.

Poetic and concise, creating pure art from the chaos of reality, won the "American PEN - Hemingway Award"

This book, a collection of short stories, is the first novel by Ha Jin, a Life Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The Good Soldier takes place entirely in Heilongjiang. Each story focuses on a single unit, each supporting the others to form a coherent historical canvas. The book is based on real people and events, but Ha Jin has recast names and connected various people and events to create a diverse cast of characters and plots. A great era is condensed into the life of a collective unit, revealing how individuals are unified and how individuals survive and struggle within the collective.

The book opens with a soldier reporting a reactionary song to his superior, the political commissar, suggesting the arrest of the composer and singer. This mere four-page report reveals a kind of "grand stupidity." Twelve stories depict the youthful ideals and turmoil of soldiers who joined the front amidst the tense situation on the Sino-Soviet border, and the loss of their lives and the shattering of their dreams. "Empty Love" describes how a communications sergeant ruined his bright future for the sake of a strange woman's voice; "The Good Soldier" describes Liu Fu, a "good soldier" with outstanding skills and personality, who was repeatedly reported by his instructor and platoon leader for his bad behavior in solving sexual needs, forcing him to become a criminal of exile and treason; as for the last article, "The Sea of ​​Ci", it tells the story of a nerd in the army who suffered from bullying in the last year of his military career. At the end of his military career where he had only Mao Zedong Thought and Mao Zedong Thought for many years, he changed his fate and determined the direction of his life because of a book "The Sea of ​​Ci".

The author stated that before writing The Good Soldier, he had deeply studied the works of Chekhov. Ha Jin said, "I think The Good Soldier was deeply influenced by Chekhov."

"Each chapter in 'The Good Soldier' ​​features a political instructor, representing the Party's vision and thinking. The Party's attitude is to never lose vigilance, to earn trust but never give it, and this remains true even under Xi Jinping. Even if you have no interest in literature, reading Ha Jin's novels can help you understand the CCP's thinking and how its rule has transformed the Chinese people." -- Yan Zeya (introduction, full text included in the book)

■New edition of the Chinese version of "The Good Soldier" commemorating its 20th anniversary■
Specially included is the author's new edition preface and Yan Zeya's special article introduction.

Award-winning record

1997 PEN/Hemingway Award

Celebrity recommendations

Li Youcheng, Shan Dexing, Yang Zhao, Luo Yijun, Yan Xuya - Recommended by renowned writers and scholars (listed in alphabetical order)

International acclaim

"Ha Jin's collection of stories, The Good Soldier, depicts life in the Chinese army with ingenious elegance and boundless sophistication. With his minute observation of the customs of his time and his evident mastery of technique, he creates pure art from the chaos of reality. The best stories in the book express joy amidst suffering and resonate with irony, which draws the characters closer to the reader and distances them from their harsh world. Ha Jin has broken new ground in American literature. This debut work, with its spare style and subtle beauty, should be truly celebrated." - Commentary of the 1997 PEN-Hemingway Foundation First Novel Award

"Outstanding...Ha Jin's concise, brilliant language makes The Good Soldier an almost flawless gem."—Chicago Tribune

"A compelling collection of novels; its themes are cohesive and powerful, its styles diverse and rich."—The New York Times Book Review

"Extraordinary... These stories are full of wit and reveal all sorts of inexplicable psychological motivations... Every one of them is a must-read." - The Boston Globe

"A brilliant new talent who can wring something surprising out of tough material."—Portland-Oregon Daily

2020-01-21

時報出版

232

9789571373973