Points of Origin

Dou, Diao

ISBN 10 : 1905583621 ISBN 13 : 9781905583621

Editeur : Comma Press, 2015

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

A letter-writing campaign goes awry when a law is passed that only allows people to walk the streets at night, if they maintain a squatting position at all times... A town is overrun with cockroaches; despite the government s official expressions of concern, the only person doing anything about it is branded an agitator... A widower is forced to move into the city to live with his son, bringing his cat and his strange country ways with him... Diao Dou s short stories perform a kind of high-wire literary acrobatics; each one executes an immaculate mid-air transition, from closely observed social realism to surrealist parody, and back again. Covering all aspects of modern Chinese life from the high-minded morals of an emerging middle class, to the vividly remembered hardships of an all-too-recent collectivist past these stories offer a very particular window into the contemporary Chinese psyche, and show a culture struggling to keep pace with the extraordinary transformations that have befallen it in the space of a single lifetime. Diao Dou is wildly regarded as one of China s leading satirists, praised for his refusal to follow any of the numerous literary trends that often dominate the Chinese literary scene. Translated by Brendan O'Kane http://commapress.co.uk/books/points-of-origin/

Biographie de l'auteur :

Diao Dou is the pen name of Diao Tiejun. He was born in 1960 in Shenyang in Liaoning Province, China, and studied at the University of Broadcasting in Beijing before working as a journalist. Having established himself with a collection of poems, he has since turned to novels (including the new novel Qinhe, (Close to You) and more recently short stories. Diao currently works as an editor for Dangdai Zuojia Pinglun (Commentary on Contemporary Authors) and as editor of the Liaoning-based literary magazine, Yalu River. Admirers and critics have noted Diao's low-key personality and his refusal to take part in any of the mass literary trends or cliques common in the Chinese literary scene. In late 2003, he was one of ten writers to win the ninth annual Zhuang Zhongwen Prize for Literature, along with the poet Xi Chuan. Two of his short stories have been translated into French: La Faute and Nid de Coucou (Cuckoo's Nest); and one, Squatting , into English for the anthology Shi Cheng. This latter story was hailed by the Financial Times for its delicious irony.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Comma Press
• Date d'édition: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1905583621
• ISBN 13: 9781905583621
• Reliure: Livre broché
• Nombre de pages: 242