One of the very few fictional portraits of Xinjiang hit the shelves in the English language just a few days ago, and Josh Summers of Far West China has a review of it up at Danwei. Summers celebrates the persuasive portrayal of human relationships against the gritty backdrop of the Cultural Revolution but regrets that Wang fails to capture anything specifically "Xinjiang" in his story with the exception of one half-Uyghur character noted more for her beauty than her potentially unique ethnic perspective. On the blog itself, Josh also points out a puzzling lack of familiarity with the novel in Xinjiang despite the book being set there and having won several national awards.
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- 7-Apr '09 at 1:11 am
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Comments 5
Yo, cool blog! I am enjoying reading it and learning more about the area. Since I arrived in china in ’02 i have always thought about going out West. Keep blogging and letting us know about the true New Frontier!
hek
Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 11:44 am ¶I’ve only read half of this and not the translation but….
The ommissions Josh mentions are hugely significant. The fact that the only Uyghur character is from a Han-Uyghur family (and is flippantly referred to as an ‘二转子’ or ‘half-cast’) and is a lady of exotic beauty, no Islam, no threatening males, a burning desire to learn English as a way to get the hell out of this seemingly arduous frontier, all tell us quite a lot about Han Chinese imaginations of Xinjiang!
Posted 28 Apr 2009 at 8:28 am ¶In order to present “all things” about the region, here is a link to a new book of possible interest:
Posted 07 May 2009 at 4:19 am ¶http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Fighter-Womans-Struggle-Peace/dp/0979845610
I second ET’s comment. I hope you will consider writing a review of Rebiya Kadeer’s new book.
Posted 07 May 2009 at 6:05 am ¶Thor, get a life.
This is a beuatiful novel and novels are political or historical documents.
Posted 03 Feb 2010 at 9:54 am ¶Post a Comment