| Running Mother and Other Stories Contributor(s): Guo, Songfen (Author), Balcom, John (Translator) |
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ISBN: 0231147341 ISBN-13: 9780231147347 Publisher: Columbia University Press OUR PRICE: $36.63 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 2008 Annotation: Guo Songfen plays with the hazards of miscommunication, the arbitrary nature of fate, and the malevolence of human motivation, while also grappling with recent Taiwanese history and its traumas, such as the struggle to determine past, present, and future forms of identity. In "Running Mother," a man reflects on his relationship with his mother, who has been alternately close and distant in childhood and adulthood. "Moon Seal" follows a woman caught between traditional and modern worlds. In "Wailing Moon," a wife reflects on her marriage at her husband's funeral. "Snow Blind" explores feelings of powerlessness during different historical periods through the character of a man who is unable to overcome his inertia, and "Brightly Shine the Stars Tonight" centers on the February 28th Incident. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Short Stories (single Author) - Fiction | Literary |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 2008011613 |
| Series: Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan (Hardcover) |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 5.7" W x 8.3" (0.90 lbs) 272 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Guo Songfen's short stories are masterful psychological portraits that play with the echoes of history and the nature of identity. One of the few modernists to truly capture the fallout from such events as the February 28th Incident and the White Terror, Guo Songfen illuminates the quiet core of his characters through a spare and immediate style that is at once a symptom and an allegory of the trauma in which they live. In "Running Mother," a man is torn between his fear of abandonment and his guilt over leaving his family, and therefore his symbolic home, behind. "Moon Seal" follows a woman caught between traditional and modern worlds. In "Wailing Moon," a wife learns a shocking secret after her husband's death, realizing he was never the man she thought him to be. Set in the United States and Taiwan, "Snow Blind" is a multigenerational triptych that portrays the consequences of spiritual malaise, and in "Brightly Shines the Stars Tonight," a general wrestles with issues of memory and self-perception in the final moments before his execution. Guo Songfen's stories play with the hazards of miscommunication, the malevolence of human will, the arbitrary nature of fate, and the burden of historical circumstance. As the general discovers, life is a game of chess, the outcome of which is never certain though it might be logically designed. Showcasing the best of Taiwan's modernist style, these stories are not only an indictment of the human condition but also a powerful comment on the experience of postretrocession Taiwan. |
Contributor Bio(s): Balcom, John: - John Balcom is professor of Chinese-English translation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He has translated a number of books, including Wintry Night by Li Qiao, The City Trilogy by Chang His-kuo, and Taiwan's Indigenous Writers: An Anthology of Stories, Essays, and Poems. |