Advanced Reader of Contemporary Chinese Short Stories: Reflections on Humanity

Rating:
Summary: In incredible source for advanced students of Chinese
Review: This is a worthwhile book for any student of Chinese because if fills several important gaps in the materials currently available for Chinese students.

Of these gaps, the greatest is that no single source provides a good sampling of truly modern Chinese writers. Most Chinse Readers are composed of fiction pieces drawn from the Grandfathers of Chinese fiction, like Lao She, Lu Xun, Xu Zhimo, and Zhu Ziqing. These are all great writers, but most of them were dead before I was born, and wrote most prolificaly in the 1930s.

On the other hand, for those who are interested in currently poplular authors, and contemporary Chinese culture and language, it can be hard to find materials.

This book provides these materials in several key ways:

1. There are 10 different authors in this book, who are all current (all the stories are post-1990) and who write in very different styles. This way, with one book, you can get to know a number of writers, and learn what you like and what you don't in modern Chinese literature. (This is an important step in finding more books to read in Chinese)

2. The book is in Jianti Zi. If you are like me, and live on the west coast, Chinese books aren't hard to find, but they are almost universaly from Taiwan or Xiang Gang, and as a result are all published in Fanti Zi. Nothing against that, but American students should realize that you don't pick one or the other. Most college educated Chinese (or Taiwanese) can read both, and I think it realy is important to be familiar with both ways of writting. Thus, this can help balance the distribution of Traditional to Simplified texts.

3. This book is largely uncensored and casual. Thus, it provides a usefull context for understanding many of the verbal mannerisms and coarse language in Chinese that you would never come to know if you just studied textbook Chinese (even in China, where foreign students are all to often isolated from the rougher edges of the Chinese population). Even if you aren't interested in Chinese literature, this book has a lot of Chinese slang and all in the appropriate context of it's use, so even if you just want to talk rough & dirty these authors are worth a look (especialy Mian Mian... I still don't understand why that girl isn't banned by the government!)

4. This book represents mainland authors. Most of the time, when Chinese literature is addressed in a class, there are three main areas of focus: Classics & Classical Poetry, the Civil-War/Republic era "Grandfathers," and modern Expatriates. The popular contemporary Authors of both the Mainland and Taiwan are generaly overlooked. For Taiwanese authors, their work is readily available in most Chinatowns, but Mainland Literary authors are harder to find. This book will set you on the right track. Literature in both Taiwan and the Mainland is worth looking at, but they are two highly distinct voices, one cannot substitute for the other.

If these are problems that you were encountering as an advanced student of modern Chinese, then this book should definately be on your short list of materials to buy.