Deaf and dumb era

Douban

NeoDB

"When I graduated from elementary school, it was the summer of 1997. Like every graduation since then, it was hot and dry."

From that moment on, I was ready for all the pain and pleasure.

In a small northeastern city in the late 1990s, that summer, when everything outside was undergoing drastic change, was a long, hazy poem for teenagers aged thirteen or fourteen. The story centers on a group of junior high students at No. 108 Middle School. Told through the perspective of the young "I" (Li Mo), the novel recounts seven poignant coming-of-age stories. Like Naipaul's "Miguel Street," these characters are independent yet intertwined, creating an intertextual connection that connects the "I"'s own trajectory. The eccentric Liu Yida, the gifted youth Huo Jialin, the eccentric and precociously charming Anna, and Ai Xiaonan, always in a white shirt... At this moment of life's awakening to self-awareness, the power of the adult world manipulates these young people: monitored classrooms, dull textbooks, and snobbish and hostile teachers. Faced with this first encounter with the outside world, some fiercely resist, others perish and disappear, and many more grow silent. "The Deaf and Dumb Age" charts the spiritual growth of the 1980s generation. The industrial city covered with heavy snow and the families in trouble due to the wave of layoffs cast an indelible shadow on the inner world of the teenagers, and campus life always has a depressing and dark background of the times.

"The Age of Deaf and Dumb" is novelist Shuang Xuetao's self-healing work, like recounting past events in a tree hole, sealing it with mud, and cherishing it for the future. Unlike the sharp and cold style of "Moses on the Plain," he uses a gentle tone, vibrant and sincere Chinese, and a loving and tender gaze to examine the dreams and scars of his youth, write a biography for those who have lived through the same experiences as himself, and tell the stories of those who lost their voices in the age of deaf and dumb. This novel was written at the age of 28, when he lived a double life: working at a bank during the day and writing at home at night. "It was already summer when I finished it. I knew I could never write anything like this again. Maybe I had become a different person. From then on, I would live as a different person."

【Editor's Recommendation】

The final chapter of the 80s generation's youth awakens the pain of growing up. We return time and again to our youth, where we preserve the essence of life. In the late 1990s, in a small northeastern city, on the dark-hued campus of No. 108 Middle School, lies the story of seven fierce young men, a gentle and precipitous memory of youth, and a spiritual coming-of-age story for those born in the 80s. No other summer can compare to that one: the young men were silent, fierce, and passionate, their faces bearing the same expressions we once wore.

This book, dedicated to the voiceless in a deaf-mute era, is our eyes and our ears. It tells the story of the pain and price of growing up, of those who have departed, of elusive loves, of childhood friends, of how the brilliance of youth fades and fades, of the compromise with the banality of reality, of how one grows up alone in an absurd world, surrendering the things he holds most dear one by one. This is the youth of a generation, and of all of us.

Novelist Shuang Xuetao's self-healing work, now presented in its entirety in a new edition. This new edition restores the original, over a thousand words, preserving the novel's original form and presenting the work in its entirety for the first time. Unlike the harsh, hard-hitting "Moses on the Plain," the novelist uses a gentle tone, vibrant and sincere Chinese, and a loving and tender gaze to examine the dreams and scars of youth, leaving behind a testament to the youth of his generation and telling the stories of those who remain silent.

★A pioneering work of youth writing in Chinese novels, Shuang Xuetao's story of youth has a Salinger-like spirit of rebellion and reflection.

Different from the familiar narratives of the post-80s youth, the novel uses a sharp pen to reveal the cruelty of the world behind the warmth of youth; it uses the eyes of a teenager to explore the light and dark of human nature, and writes about the eternal search for freedom and self between the individual and the world; it uses a vivid biography of Northeastern teenagers to interweave the youth and destiny of a generation under the shadow of the times, forming its own unique aesthetic style and historical depth.

2020-05-01

广西师范大学出版社

Ideal Country

248

9787559826329