Monthly Short Story Reading

[Meng Lelan]

I think it was called 1986 about a guy who disappears in the cultural rev and then reappears later as a madman who mutilates himself in all sorts of ways, some VERY cringe worthy, especially if you are male...

Oh! I want to read that one. Maybe I'll line it up for later this fall, if it qualifies as a short story not a novel. Otherwise the Book of the Month Club folks are going to want to take it.

[Shadowdh]

It is indeed a short story, and pretty good... very informed by the reaction to the cultural revolution and the apparent forgetfulness of the population...

[Meng Lelan]

It is indeed a short story, and pretty good... very informed by the reaction to the cultural revolution and the apparent forgetfulness of the population...

Good! Then it's in the line-up of proposed stories. Can't wait to read it.

[rob07]

Great thread Meng Lelan, congratulations.

To kick off the discussion, here's a famous quote by Mo Yan describing Yu Hua (who used to be a dentist) that I like:

据说他曾当过五年牙医,我不敢想象病人在这个狂生的铁钳下将遭受什么样的酷刑

One of my favourite things about 我没有自己的名字 is the title - hopefully am not spoiling anything by saying that it appears to have one meaning after you read the first page but has a completely different meaning after reading the end.

anyone here read it or would be interested? It is

远去的粉蝴蝶 （刘云生).

I read this in the same collection as 我没有自己的名字. There were 10 stories and all of them were excellent but this was probably my least favourite. As you say, it is interesting and disturbing to see how girls were treated at that time, and it is a great feelgood story in the end but I thought all the characters were a bit black and white and there wasn't that much suspense, I was pretty sure she was going to triumph in the end

One of the other stories I remember from that collection is 下午茶 by 裘山山. It is about a single woman with a young daughter who thinks she wants a relationship with a guy, and there is someone she is sort of interested in, but ultimately just cannot be bothered. It has a delightfully whimsical tone.

Another story I really like is 减去十年 by 谌容. Set in the 1980s, a rumour circulates that the Chinese government has decided to pass a decree deducting 10 years from everyone's age, on the basis that the Cultural Revolution wasted 10 years of everyone's life. The story takes a quick look at a number of people who believe the rumour, from oldest to youngest, showing their reactions to the thought of suddenly being 10 years younger. Humorous on the surface, it is deeply tragic just below it.

[gato]

Another story I really like is 减去十年 by 谌容.

Audio version of this story. Not bad.

http://blog.rbc.cn/html/99/84199-19947.html

More audios of stories and essays from the same site (a very good collection):

http://t8.rbc.cn/list?uid=84199

谌容 also wrote 《人到中年》, which was adapted into a very successful movie in the mid-1980s.

[rob07]

the little prince!

so i can read it in english and pretend to follow along!

The original is French, but they have a Chinese version... don't they? I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Not only do they have a Chinese version, according to a poll posted by Skylee a while back, it was voted the eighth most popular book in Taiwan, out of all Chinese and Western books.

Check it out: http://www.favorite100.com/fav100/fav100_new.shtml

[Meng Lelan]

Not only do they have a Chinese version, according to a poll posted by Skylee a while back, it was voted the eighth most popular book in Taiwan, out of all Chinese and Western books.

Really? The Little Prince?

All I remember now of the book is how the drawings showed his red scarf perpetually flapping sideway in the wind even though he's somewhere in space. So my French class did a spoof of the Little Prince, the classmate playing the Little Prince used a coat hanger to drape the red scarf outward like it was perpetually flapping in the wind and I remember laughing my #$%&^ head off the whole time.

But I digress.

Anyone get started on the story yet?

To kick off the discussion, here's a famous quote by Mo Yan describing Yu Hua (who used to be a dentist) that I like:

据说他曾当过五年牙医,我不敢想象病人在这个狂生的铁钳下将遭受什么样的酷刑

There was some interview with Yu Hua where he said that as a dentist he got tired of looking into people's mouths all day. Then he went to the culture bureau where all he had to do was go all around looking for some interesting thing to write about, and he decided on that as his career.

[rob07]

Really? The Little Prince?

小王子 by 聖．修伯里/張譯! - it is a lot of fun flicking through that linked list seeing how many Western books you can recognise from their Chinese titles. Taiwanese seem to have very Western tastes.

There was some interview with Yu Hua where he said that as a dentist he got tired of looking into people's mouths all day. Then he went to the culture bureau where all he had to do was go all around looking for some interesting thing to write about, and he decided on that as his career.

And I think he said the pay was the same! That really was a cultural revolution. On a more serious note, that was the major theme of 《人到中年》mentioned by gato above - how hard doctors had to work for so little pay at that time. It is a very moving story.

Getting a bit ahead of myself maybe, but I read 手 by 萧红.last night - recommended by Renzhe earlier on this thread, thanks very much Renzhe.

[stoney]

I like this Idea!

Will there be a separate thread for each story?

I have just read 我没有自己的名字, for me it's a struggle and I have a few question's, starting with who exactly are the characters / perceived characters in this story.

Thanks.

[Meng Lelan]

Good! I am glad you like the idea.

We're under the general thread called Monthly Short Story Reading, but I think we can set it up so that each Story of the Month has its own sub-thread. I know Book of the Month does something like that. I'll check with roddy first.

This May Short Story got started over a week early as you probably noticed, but go ahead and start posting your questions, this should get folks get going on the May Short Story of the Month, after all, it's almost May anyway.

In order to entertain (?) those who are trying to endure this current pandemic, can anyone here recommend any Chinese short story on the theme of plague? epidemic? pandemic? I know the French have a novel by Albert Camus called La Peste (The Plague) but I'm not aware of any Chinese "counterpart".

Edited April 30, 2009 at 07:43 PM by Meng Lelan

[Meng Lelan]

So, I'm now at the "flashback" when 来发 is hearing what his father said to him throughout his life. The saddest part is when the father says to come get his school backpack, you can almost hear his hopes and ambition for his son who turns out to be too mentally disabled for school.

[bill]

Just finished the Yu Hua short story. Good choice, as Yu Hua is a nice easy author to read.

It was interesting for me to compare his treatment of the mentally disabled compared with in the novel "Brothers" 兄弟. That novel's treatment of the disabled, mainly treating them as a source of comic relief, left me feeling a little uneasy. In the short story I get the feeling that we are supposed to laugh at his troubles, laughing with him most of the time, but also at him. I also feel there's understanding of his tormentors, if not sympathy. I'm not sure if this means Yu Hua is more honest than a Western author would be, or if it reflects a less enlightened attitude.

I'd be interested to see how a Western translator dealt with this, especially in the translation of Brothers that's just been published.

[Meng Lelan]

What I'm sensing in this short story is that his mental disability is so severe that he cannot perceive any interaction as tormenting or supportive unless someone uses his actual real name. You can see and feel this in this "flashback" of his father calling out his name throughout his lifetime.

The only perception he has of any supportive and intimate connection with others is when someone uses his real, actual name of 来发. He loses this sense of supportive, personal, and intimate connection when they use (or more exactly) abuse his name in order to trick him into getting his dog killed.

[白夜 听海]

hi, i m new here.

i suggest u read the works of 贾平凹，i am reading his 大话五十these days. some articles form the book are very interesting, like初人四记，telling a story about the writer and a little girl when they were kids.

[renzhe]

I've finished the story. I found it very well written.

In the short story I get the feeling that we are supposed to laugh at his troubles, laughing with him most of the time, but also at him. I also feel there's understanding of his tormentors, if not sympathy.

I really didn't feel this at all.

[Meng Lelan]

Neither did I, renzhe. Actually from my years of working in special ed, it's very common behavior for the severely mentally disabled to laugh when others are laughing, whether or not they understand the reason for the laughing. Even if they are being laughed at. Yu Hua was extremely perceptive to see this.

[Rockford]

I've now read the story twice, and am very impressed. Two things impressed me particularly:

1. The ending of the story changes the meaning of everything that has gone before, which makes re-reading it really rewarding. Looking back, it becomes clear how much 来发 understands, and how little those around him understand him.

2. The narrator's lack of affect, and the exemplary "show don't tell" of the narration, really set the reader up to think that 陈先生 is a benevolent figure when, in fact, he's the one who betrays 来发, and thus harms him the most.

(This all depend on whether I've really understood the language, of course!)

Thanks, Meng Lelan, for starting this. A book is a little much for me at this point, so I'm really happy to be reading a short story.

[Meng Lelan]

Thanks, Meng Lelan, for starting this. A book is a little much for me at this point, so I'm really happy to be reading a short story.

Rockford: You are most welcome. This has actually been a most interesting venture for me. By the way I really liked your insights on this short story.

For the folks already here in this thread: Next week I'm going to start hammering out what we can read for June. I'm not much in a mood for girly type of relationship stories though. Maybe something ghastly is what I'm looking for.

[Gleaves]

I've read and very much enjoyed the story. I can sympathize with 来发. He doesn't seem to know what's going on most of the time and for the first few pages, I also had no clue what was going on. I'd like to re-read it, as I didn't quite grasp the chronology of what was happening.

I do have a few questions:

-翘鼻子许阿三. Is 许阿三 the name, while 翘鼻子 is a description of him? Does 翘鼻子 have a "stick up one's nose at" connotation?

-Why does the story repeat itself for a few pages? On page 3 of the .doc attachment from earlier in the thread, everything after "陈先生还活着的时候，经常站在药店的柜台里面..." gets repeated on pages 5-7. Is this a literary device or a typo?

[Meng Lelan]

-翘鼻子许阿三. Is 许阿三 the name, while 翘鼻子 is a description of him? Does 翘鼻子 have a "stick up one's nose at" connotation?

Yes, 翘鼻子 describes his nose as like a pig's snout. Not "sticking up one's nose at" connotation.

For your other question, I'll have to go get my copy and take a look.