#yiyunli

[diariodeunciclope]

[ramirollona]

#happening #annieernaux #wherereasonsend #yiyunli #futurefeeling #josslake #howtowashaheart #bhanukapil #statusandculture #wdavidmarx (en Lima, Peru) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cih_L51Ljw-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kattra]

#FridayReads: WINTER by Ali Smith, DEAR FRIEND, FROM MY LIFE I WRITE TO YOU IN YOUR LIFE by Yiyun Li, SOUR HEART by Jenny Zhang, THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS by Michael Finkel.

#amreading

[taxonomiste]

China: Novelists Against the State

Liu Xiaobo’s worry [is] that Chinese writers are trapped in a language that deters or distorts expression of impermissible thoughts.

...

Writers who have tried to pull free from Party language have worried about how it affects not only beliefs but behavior in the world. In one of his labor camp novels, Zhang Xianliang tells how a camp inmate (Zhang himself, clearly) is able to escape and to roam around outside for a while, but then returns to the camp of his own accord. There are several reasons why he does so, and one of them is that his ideological training has led him to an undue respect for official correctness. “My ‘thoughts’ told me that I should return to the labor reform camp,” he writes.

The problem continues to the present day for Chinese writers, and the books I am reviewing here in some ways illustrate it. Censorship, broadly conceived, appears at three levels. Level one is: “I wrote X and the censor took it out.” Level two is: “I want to write X but stop myself from doing so, out of fear.” Level three is: “It is awkward even to form thought X in the language that I have inherited.”

Another mode of deflection, which began during the scar years and flourished through the 1980s, was to move into modernist language. “Misty poets”—Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, and others—wrote lines pregnant with meanings that the authorities knew they did not like even though they could not say exactly why. Fiction writers including Yu Hua, Su Tong, Han Shaogong, and Can Xue, whose childhoods or adolescent years were marred by the turmoil of late Maoism, created worlds that were filled with murderous toddlers, belching grandmothers, sunlight so hot that it melts the sand underfoot, horn-blowing deaf-mutes, hoodlums who grin as their electric drill penetrates someone’s kneecap, family history that gets more and more grotesque the deeper one digs, and more. Their surreal tales and bizarre images owed something to their discovery of Kafka, Gabriel García Márquez, and others in the outside world. But much of the writing expressed their own shock, indirectly reflected.

...

Lilian [a character from A Map of Betrayal by Ha Jin] observes that much of the “ardent patriotism” in China today is born of insecurity; a citizen loves the state not because the state is lovable but because it gives a citizen a stronger face to present to the world. Chinese character includes “many good qualities”—“diligence, resourcefulness, modesty, [and] respect for old people”—but also two very unfortunate ones: “petty cleverness and practical-mindedness.” Ha Jin here refers to the tendency, easy to notice in Chinese fiction and life, to analyze all the factors in a situation and figure out the smartest route to personal advantage. This trait, for Ha Jin, gets in the way of doing “what’s meaningful in the long run.”

--Excerpts from a review of recent works by Chinese/Chinese American novelists by Perry Link (NYRB, November 19, 2015 issue) Full article: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/nov/19/china-novelists-against-state/

[sobookd]

Book Review: Kinder than Solitude by Yiyun Li

Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li My rating: 5 of 5 stars Author: Yiyun Li Genre: Adult Fiction/Literature Rating: 5 out of 5 Synopsis: When three friends were young they were involved in an accident where their friend was poisoned. As adults they lead separate lives, two living in the United States and one remaining in China. They are all still haunted by the truth of what happened and by their own personal doubts about themselves. I was captivated by the first page of this novel and by the end of the first chapter I wanted to speed through this book. I took my time to really delve into this one because Li has such a rhythmic poetic way of telling a story. It is convincingly written with an elegance that I found endearing for literature. Her writing is not overdone or contrived it just flows nicely. There was never a moment while reading it did I think that there were fillers being used. The story was always where it was supposed to be without lagging. The traumatic event that changed three lives shapes this novel and the fact that the characters have to face their despair in different ways makes it all the more illuminating. I loved this book because it was raw and sad. I felt for the characters and that is something that a reader always needs to connect to a story. I highly recommend this book. View all my reviews

[sobookd]

Currently Reading: Kinder than Solitude by Yiyun Li

I just received a copy this week of 'Kinder than Solitude' by Yiyun Li. After finishing the first chapter, I am completely in love with her style of writing. She talks my language in the way that she delivers dialogue. I love the simple but yet complex way that she creates a scene. I had to record this moment in where I am because I know I am going to fly through this book. I love to be captivated when reading. Her style of writing is the very reason I love what we can do with words. The way that our minds are able to interpret a person's character, feelings and how they live their lives is nothing short of amazing. I will be reviewing this when I finish but I couldn't resist writing what I am feeling in this moment about this book already. I am already adding her other books to my 'must buy list' for this month. 

sobookd 

[betterreader]

Review: Kinder Than Solitude

Scott says:Gliding prose and a cool remove belies the devastating crime anchoring this story. Li’s new novel is a study of solitude: among strangers, among family, at home, and abroad. It is also a portrait of new and old China and the tangled relationship between the two. Kinder Than Solitude is a reminder of literature’s singular ability to capture the effects of history, politics, and culture on the individual. One of the essential reads of 2014.

In store now.

[imaginary-planet-blog]

Tocará leer para matar el tiempo #yiyunli #book #lectura #life