日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Culture
Home / Culture / Books

Waking up to a masterpiece

By Yang Yang | China Daily | Updated: 2018-05-25 07:30
Share
Share - WeChat
A Yi, a policeman-turned-writer, published in January his first novel that represents the disappearing rural life in China Wake Me Up at 9 AM. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Forged in a moment of madness and nearly derailed by a debilitating illness, A Yi battled against all the odds to see his first full-length novel make it into print.

Chinese writer A Yi often appears ill at ease when talking at public events. Reading from a prepared speech in a low voice, his apparent lack of self-confidence seems to belie the fact that he has been hailed as one of the best writers of his generation by leading literary figures.

In his own words, the writer is often wracked by feelings of "self-doubt" and this accompanied him right up until the release of his only novel to date, Zao Shang Jiu Dian Jiao Xing Wo (Wake Me Up at 9 AM), which was published in January.

By the close of the 150,000-character novel, A Yi said he felt relieved, confident, and even "a little bit of a narcissist" when talking about the characterization and direction of the novel.

Sitting in a cafe near his Beijing home, the writer talked for more than an hour about Chinese literature, translation and his new novel, before he abruptly had to stop.

Still recovering from a disease of the immune system that nearly killed him five years ago, he continues to take regular medication to control the condition, which leaves him tired and prone to occasional bouts of memory loss.

In 2012, when the idea for his first novel finally came to fruition after years of writing short stories and novellas, he plunged into a state of mind that can only be described as madness.

In a process he later described as "self-indulgent", he would spend weeks on end staying up all night trying to write - usually fueled by coffee, cigarettes and spirits.

In order to vividly depict the sound of a character's steps, he would try on different kinds of shoes and walk around his room. He talked to himself to work out ways to create the dialogue.

Midway through the novel, however, this madness began to take its toll his body. His immune system collapsed, and the large doses of medicine he was taking to fight its effects on his respiratory system damaged one of his kidneys, leading to surgery.

For a time, the disease deprived him of his ability to concentrate, read or write. But urged on by his sense of mission, he somehow managed to pull through.

Having dedicated so much time and effort to his novel, A Yi was initially unwilling to publish it. But realizing his frailty, and having spent most of his savings on medical treatment, he agreed to sell the global publishing rights to the book to an Italian literary agent in late 2013.

The Italian edition was published five months ahead of the Chinese version, which is now on its second print run, picking up awards such as the Southern Weekly Book of the Year 2017 and Asian Weekly Top 10 Novels 2017. An English translation is currently underway.

A Yi says he used his experiences of living in rural Jiangxi province as the backbone for the novel.

While he plays his former narrative style to the full, he breaks through its limitations and adopts a new narrative style that would "better represent and reconstruct the physical and spiritual images of the rural area in the novel", emulating techniques that American writer William Faulkner employed in many of his novels, including Light in August.

1 2 Next   >>|
Most Popular
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲精品一区二区深夜福利 | 久一在线视频 | 国产成人av免费看 | 一级做a爰片久久毛片人呢 达达兔午夜起神影院在线观看麻烦 | 色综合久久综合中文小说 | 久久久久久久免费视频 | 91在线播放网站 | 锵锵锵锵锵锵锵锵锵好大好湿软件 | 久久亚洲国产高清 | 99精品一区二区 | 免费日韩在线 | 国产在线精品一区二区高清不卡 | 在线 丝袜 欧美 日韩 制服 | 国产精品夜色一区二区三区 | 日韩欧美在线观看视频一区二区 | 91香蕉视频在线看 | 午夜小视频免费观看 | 这里只有精品视频 | 在线二区人妖系列 | 无码日本精品久久久久久 | 九九视频网| 天天色天天 | 国产伦理一区二区三区 | 中国妞xxx | 久草在线高清全免费 | 国产精品岛国久久久久久 | 欧美黑人伦理 | 大香伊人久久精品一区二区 | 亚洲在线影院 | 久草在钱| 国99久9在线 | 免费 | 亚洲精品久久一区二区三区四区 | 三极片免费看 | 亚洲精品色 | 美日韩免费视频 | 国产日韩欧美 | 国产h视频在线观看高清 | 日韩在线高清视频 | 免费激情网站 | 日本高清视频在线播放 | 国产成人高清 |