Short stories
唐人秘傳故事
Not translated into English
Wang Xiaobo · 1989
Synopsis
The collection brings together five stories, each drawing on a tale from the Tang period: one features the slave Kunlun, another the thief Hongxian, another Hongfu's nocturnal flight. The author rewrites them freely, through parody and invention: Li Jing, the future general, is before his rise merely a street thug, and Hongfu a woman who watches the city from a balcony. According to The Paper, the whole overturns its models and gives them a resolutely modern air.
Context
According to the website China Digital Times, this first collection appeared in 1989 thanks to the help of a merchant brother-in-law, presented as a book of popular tales, sold for two yuan and riddled with misprints; its original title, Tangren gushi, was given the word “secret” by the publisher to attract readers. Most of the author's stories appeared during his lifetime in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Paper sees in it a collection apart, which proceeds by pastiche and creative rewriting. No French or English translation of it has been found, although two of the author's novels exist in French.
Who it is for
Short, independent tales, with a constant irony; the collection is not translated, but the author is translated elsewhere.
Prizes and reception
The Paper praises a free and fluent language, an unbridled imagination and descriptions without taboos.