Short stories
Five in a Nightclub
夜總會裏的五個人
Mu Shiying · 1933
Synopsis
One weekend evening in Shanghai, five strangers end up in the same nightclub, the Empress according to a review of the English translation. Each has just been struck by misfortune: a capitalist ruined by a failed speculation, a woman who feels her youth slipping away, a scholar who has lost his bearings, a student crushed by heartbreak, a municipal secretary deprived of his job. All expect music and dancing to numb their pain.
Context
The story was reprinted in 1933 in Gongmu, its author's second collection, published by Xiandai shuju according to Aisixiang. It is counted among the most famous short stories of Mu Shiying, whose tales set in the dance halls of Shanghai proceed by fragmented narration and juxtaposed images, under the influence of Japanese and European modernisms. Yan Jiayan included it among the works representative of the movement. Randolph Trumbull translated it into English for the journal Renditions in 1992; his version appears in the book that Andrew David Field devoted to the writer in 2014. No French translation is attested.
Who it is for
A short narrative, with no French translation; it can be read in English in Randolph Trumbull's version.
Prizes and reception
It is cited among the best-known stories by Mu Shiying, and Yan Jiayan retains it as representative of his school.
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