Generals

【Editor's Recommendation】
A must-read classic, ranked alongside "Call to Arms" and "To Live" among the top 100 Chinese novels of the 20th century, this is the first complete collection of Chen Yingzhen's novels published in mainland China. A pioneering writer and an idol for intellectuals on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, he has been called the "Lu Xun of Taiwan." His novels touch upon the human heart, "constantly observing people, life, and labor from the perspective of the weak and the small." A classic Chinese novel that has been a hit in Taiwan for half a century, "The General's Family" includes beloved works such as "The Noodle Stall," "My Brother Kangxiong," "Tang Qian's Comedy," and "The First Job," many of which have been included in university Chinese language textbooks.
The untold suffering and tears of ordinary people, their incredible love and courage. The missing, those struggling to survive, those imprisoned by their faith, the insulted and hurt. Literature helps the insulted regain their dignity. A couple operating a noodle stall on the streets of Taipei, drifting office workers, ordinary people bearing the scars of war and history, young people imprisoned by their faith... These tender and poignant ukiyo-e paintings, a collective portrait of the fates of ordinary people in the 20th century, tell the stories of each of us in the backstreets of our time.
Highly recommended by Pai Hsien-yung, Chiang Hsun, Wang Anyi, Lü Zheng-hui, Wang Dewei, and Liang Wen-dao. "The General's Family is a Taiwanese allegory. Chen Ying-zhen's writing speaks directly to the pain of the human heart." (Pai Hsien-yung) "I've read My Brother Kang-xiong over a hundred times, and I cry every time." (Sanmao)
★ Includes a bonus volume titled "Reading Chen Yingzhen," featuring essays by six renowned literary figures from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. These essays, by Pai Hsien-yung, Chiang Hsun, Wang Anyi, Lü Zhenghui, Lan Bozhou, and Liang Wendao, offer a glimpse into Chen Yingzhen's worldly landscape from the perspectives of literature, thought, and the individual and his era.
【Content Introduction】
"In the next life. Then we'll all be as pure as babies."
"The General's Family" compiles 24 short and medium-length stories by Chen Yingzhen, written between 1959 and 1967. These include such beloved masterpieces as "The Noodle Stall," "My Brother Kangxiong," "Tang Qian's Comedy," and "The First Job." These stories depict the fates of ordinary people in the 20th century: Taipei night market vendors and sick children; the thin, pale anarchist Kangxiong; the rural teacher Wu Jinxiang, returning from the distant battlefield; the romantic and imaginative young man Lin Wuzhi under the apple tree; the tragic love story of the triangular-faced and skinny girl stranded in a foreign land; the intellectual "trendsetter" Tang Qian; and the nihilistic and world-weary "seafarer" Hu Xinbao. These twenty-four stories, brimming with tearful love and tender, painful sympathy, moving soul-searching confessions, and melancholic poetic lyricism, "The General's Family" is a series of elegy for the mundane world, leaving behind a lasting testimony to the lives of ordinary people and generating a profoundly moving power. This book has been selected as one of the top 100 Chinese novels of the 20th century.
【Expert Recommendation】
Pai Hsien-yung (author) — "The General's Family" is a Taiwanese allegory. Chen Yingzhen's writing speaks directly to the pain of the human heart. He possesses a special compassion for people, especially those who are vulnerable. This is his heart, and it is also the most moving aspect of his writing. Chen Yingzhen is a true artist, with his own beliefs and pursuits, and his own deep love. He and I have a mutual respect, both literary and spiritual.
Jiang Xun (writer and painter) — One person who has influenced my reading is my teacher, Chen Yingzhen. Reading Chen Yingzhen's novels is truly an aesthetic experience. I think it's crucial to reread Chen Yingzhen today, in the 21st century, because today happens to be an era of fading dreams. "My Brother Kangxiong," a novel he wrote in college, deeply moved me, a bit like Turgenev's "Rudin" and Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther." In fact, we all have dreams during adolescence. There were times when we didn't even believe in those dreams.
Wang Anyi (author and professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Fudan University) — All my efforts were actually preparation for meeting this person (Chen Yingzhen). My first encounter with him was in "The General's Family." The novel tells the story of a man with a triangular face and a skinny girl, who were thrown together by fate and left to depend on each other. This story, with its profoundness and tenderness, touched my heart.
Der-wei Wang (Professor of East Asian Studies at Harvard University) - Chen Yingzhen is Taiwan's most important literary creator of the past sixty years. His writing not only expresses potentially controversial political positions, but, on a larger scale, he uses this perspective to illustrate his personal legacy of an ideal China and an ideal Chinese nation, a utopian aspiration. The story itself is complex and moving.
Lü Zhenghui (Publisher, Renjian Publishing House, Taiwan) — Chen Yingzhen is the most deserving Taiwanese writer of the past half century to be called an "intellectual." His journey as an intellectual is worthy of our attention. His path bears witness to a writer who faithfully sought to reflect his time and circumstances. If he failed, history bears some responsibility—in certain historical periods, being a faithful and outstanding writer was not easy.
Sanmao (writer) - The first time I read novels in Bihui—Chen Yingzhen's "My Brother Kangxiong" and "The General's Family"—I was deeply moved. I realized how captivating literature can be. There are so many familiar souls in this world.
Xu Fuguan (scholar) - Chen Yingzhen is "the first person on both sides of the Taiwan Strait" because he reveals the truth that the vast majority of Chinese people are rootless. The development of the structure of each of Chen Yingzhen's novels is a process of exploring human nature.

2020-06-01

九州出版社

Ideal Country

460

9787510887390