From one of ChinaтАЩs most famous contemporary writers, who celebrated novel To Live catapulted him to international fame, here is a stunning collection of stories, selected from the best of Yu HuaтАЩs early work, that shows his far-reaching influence on a pivotal period in Chinese literature.
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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Yu Hua and other young Chinese writers began to reimagine their national literature. Departing from conventional realism in favor of a more surreal and subjective approach inspired by Kafka, Faulkner, and Borges, the boundary-pushing fiction of this period reflected the momentous cultural changes sweeping the worldтАЩs most populous nation.
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The stories collected here show Yu Hua masterfully guiding us from one fractured reality to another. тАЬA History of Two PeopleтАЭ traces the paths of a man and a woman who dream in parallel throughout their lives. тАЬIn Memory of Miss Willow YangтАЭ weaves a spellbinding web of signs and symbols. тАЬAs the North Wind HowledтАЭ carries a case of mistaken identity to absurd and hilarious conclusions. And the title story follows an unforgettable narrator determined to unearth a conspiracy against him that may not exist. By turns daring, darkly comic, thought-provoking, and profound, The April 3rd Incident is an extraordinary record of a singular moment in Chinese letters.