| Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City Contributor(s): Dung, Kai-Cheung (Author), Hansson, Anders (Translator), McDougall, Bonnie (Translator) |
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ISBN: 023116100X ISBN-13: 9780231161008 Publisher: Columbia University Press OUR PRICE: $26.73 Product Type: Hardcover Published: July 2012 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Alternative History - Fiction | Science Fiction - General |
| Dewey: 895.135 |
| LCCN: 2011035907 |
| Series: Weatherhead Books on Asia |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.6" W x 7.1" (0.65 lbs) 192 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Set in the long-lost City of Victoria (a fictional world similar to Hong Kong), Atlas is written from the unified perspective of future archaeologists struggling to rebuild a thrilling metropolis. Divided into four sections--"Theory," "The City," "Streets," and "Signs"--the novel reimagines Victoria through maps and other historical documents and artifacts, mixing real-world scenarios with purely imaginary people and events while incorporating anecdotes and actual and fictional social commentary and critique. Much like the quasi-fictional adventures in map-reading and remapping explored by Paul Auster, Jorge Luis Borges, and Italo Calvino, Dung Kai-cheung's novel challenges the representation of place and history and the limits of technical and scientific media in reconstructing a history. It best exemplifies the author's versatility and experimentation, along with China's rapidly evolving literary culture, by blending fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in a story about succeeding and failing to recapture the things we lose. Playing with a variety of styles and subjects, Dung Kai-cheung inventively engages with the fate of Hong Kong since its British "handover" in 1997, which officially marked the end of colonial rule and the beginning of an uncharted future. |