White Elephant

"White Elephant" is the fourth collection of novellas and short stories by young author Ban Yu, following "Winter Swim," "Wandering," and "Slow Steps." It continues to depict the fates swept up in the tide of the times. When our original lives become disordered and collapse, where should we go?
The stories unfold amidst changing times and regional intricacies, focusing on a group of contemporaries who rise and fall with the tides: some spend their entire lives playing someone else, someone they don't even recognize; some return their lives to the mountains and birds, allowing them to continue their existence; some repent for half their lives, while others plummet throughout their lives, coming and going quickly, leaving no trace in the world...
They are in difficult situations, with myriad misfortunes, like travelers trudging through winter, carrying pain and confusion. But beneath the cold reality, their hearts still hold warmth—some struggle to awaken from their predicaments, some hold fast to their true selves in loneliness. These small but resilient forces, like sparks in the dark night, will eventually dispel all the fog. The work uses a bleak brushstroke to depict slices of the era, and a warm sentiment to glimpse the brilliance of humanity, writing annotations full of pain and hope for complex human nature and the times.
【Editor's Recommendation】
Fate is like a bleak and smooth elephant's back; some kneel for a long time, others stumble to their feet.
Return to the sequence of history, and search for today's mysteries among the lost ruins.
Everyone is a witness to the times, journeying towards the future, yet constantly encountering the past.
When all falls silent, how do we rebuild the order of yesteryear? "White Elephant" is the fourth collection of novellas and short stories by author Ban Yu, following "Winter Swim," "Wandering," and "Slow Steps." Facing the current predicament and disorder, rebuilding oneself is a challenge everyone must confront.
This book carefully selects five representative works: "White Elephant," "Birds and the Underground," "The Fox and Its Friends," "Guanshui Order," and "Clearwater Heartbeat." The namesake story "White Elephant" was recommended on the China Writers Net "Excellent Novellas and Short Stories" list, and was called "an allegory of the post-industrial era." Literary critics evaluate it as "continuing Ban Yu's dark aesthetic, sharper than 'Winter Swim.'"

2025-10-15

江苏凤凰文艺出版社, 春风文艺出版社

Motie Books

248

9787559499257