Nineteen Thirty-four Escapes
| Nineteen Thirty-four Escapes | |||||||||
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| Chinese | 一九三四年的逃亡 | ||||||||
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Nineteen Thirty-four Escapes (Chinese: 一九三四年的逃亡; pinyin: Yījiǔsānsì Nián de Táowáng) is a novella by Su Tong, first published in 1987.[1] In 1990 it was published by Yuan-Liou Publishing Co. (遠流出版公司) in a collection with the novella Raise the Red Lantern (which there is titled under its original Chinese title, Wives and Concubines, which is also was the title of the entire volume).[2]
This, told in the first person, is about an impoverished peasant family.[3]
The novella was translated into English by Michael S. Duke, and this translation was published as a collection of stories by Su Tong, named Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas, published by William Morrow & Company in 1993. This collection also includes the novellas Raise the Red Lantern and Opium Family.[4]
Nineteen Thirty-four Escapes and Opium Family take place in a fictional location called "Maple Village". Yingjin Zhang of Indiana University compared Maple Village to Yoknapatawpha County.[5] This location is in the south of the country.[6]
Plot
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The narration focuses on Grandmother Jiang.[note 1][7] She is married to Chen Baonian,[note 2] who goes to the city to do business. Jiang finds a woman Chen Baonian is cheating on her with, Huanzi[note 3]. Jiang and Huanzi get engaged in a conflict.[6] Grandmother Jiang has seven children.[8]
The story is set in 1934. The year is used as a dividing line between pre-industrialized and industrialized society in the country, and Liu Zaifu stated that the year was not considered important in Chinese history, but that it is within the work.[9]
There is a narrator who talks about his family.[10] The narrator does not reveal his name, and feels that he does not have a great existence compared to his family.[8]
In the story there is a farmer named Chen Wenzhi[note 4], who engaged in voyeurism.[11]
By the end of the novella, six of the children are dead.[8] Sabina Knight[note 5] wrote that "fatalism" is a feature of the work.[10] Tang Xiaobing states that the family experiences "gradual but no less violent disintegration and dispersal".[8]
Reception
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Xiaobing Tang, in Chinese Modern: The Heroic and the Quotidian, described the novella's plot as "complex and seminal".[7]
In Nineteen Thirty-four Escapes and Opium Family Duke had stated "that wherever the English seems strange it is because the Chinese was also purposefully so".[4] Gary Krist of The New York Times felt these translations had a "rambling nature" that became "merely awkward, unrevealing and occasionally tedious."[4] Because of Duke's statement, Krist was unsure whether the awkwardness came from Su Tong or from Duke.[4] Publishers Weekly stated that a "hand-me-down quality of oral history" where the reader is unsure of the truth is reflected in Nineteen Thirty-four Escapes.[3]
Notes
[edit]Names in other languages
[edit]- ^ Jiang: simplified Chinese: 蒋; traditional Chinese: 蔣; pinyin: Jiǎng; Wade–Giles: Chiang3
- ^ Chen Baonian: 陈宝年; 陳寶年; Chén Bǎonián; Ch'en2 Pao3-nien2
- ^ Huanzi: 环子; 環子; Huánzǐ; Huan2-tzu3
- ^ Chen Wenzhi: 陈文治; 陳文治; Chén Wénzhì; Ch'en2 Wen2-chih4
- ^ Sabina Knight: She was formerly known as Deirdre Sabina Knight, and her Chinese name is: 桑禀华; 桑稟華; Sāng Bǐnghuá
References
[edit]- Choy, Howard Yuen Fung (2008). "Remapping the Past: Fictions of History in Deng's China, 1979 -1997". BRILL. ISBN 9789004167049.
- Knight, Deirdre Sabina (Spring–Fall 1998). "Decadence, Revolution and Self-Determination in Su Tong's Fiction". Modern Chinese Literature. 10 (1/2): 91–111. JSTOR 41490774.
- McDougall, Bonnie S.; Louie, Kam (1997). The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century. Columbia University Press.
- Tang, Xiaobing (Spring–Fall 1992). "The Mirror of History and History as Spectacle: Reflections on Hsiao Yeh and Su T'ung". Modern Chinese Literature. 6 (1/2: Special Issue on Contemporary Chinese Fiction from Taiwan). Edinburgh University Press: 203-220 (18 pages. JSTOR 41490700.
- Zhang, Yingjin (December 1994). "Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas by Su Tong, Michael S. Duke". Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews. 16: 185–187. doi:10.2307/495325. JSTOR 495325.
Notes
[edit]- ^ McDougall and Louie, p. 418.
- ^ Tang, Xiaobing, "The Mirror of History and History as Spectacle," p. 219.
- ^ a b "Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas". Publishers Weekly. 1993-06-28. Retrieved 2022-09-16.
- ^ a b c d Krist, Gary (1993-07-25). "The Junior Wife's Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
- ^ Zhang, Yingjin, p. 185.
- ^ a b Choy, H. Y.F., p. 138.
- ^ a b Tang, Xiaobing (2000-04-03). Chinese Modern: The Heroic and the Quotidian. Duke University Press. p. 235.
- ^ a b c d Tang, Xiaobing, "The Mirror of History and History as Spectacle," p. 211.
- ^ Liu, Zaifu (2021-06-17). "From the Monologic Era to the Polyphonic Era". In Howard Y.F. Choy; Jianmei Liu (eds.). Liu Zaifu: Selected Critical Essays. Leiden: BRILL. pp. 93-. - Cited: p. 110 - The chapter was translated by Ke Wei and Torbjörn Lodén, while other chapters had different translators.
- ^ a b Knight, p. 96.
- ^ Tang, Xiaobing, "The Mirror of History and History as Spectacle," p. 213.
Further reading
[edit]- Su, Tong (1990). "一九三四年的逃亡" [Nineteen Thirty-four Escapes]. 妻妾成群 [Wives and Concubines]. Taipei: Yuan-Liou Publishing Co.. pp. 13–78.