Meng Lelan Posted May 31, 2009 at 02:59 PM Report Posted May 31, 2009 at 02:59 PM June is here, and here it is, the Short Story of the Month(s) for June and July 2009. Two months because I expect readership to decline a great deal in the summer months. The title is 一九八六年by 余华. This story has been mentioned in a couple threads here in the Forums. I think kdavid did a report on this story some time ago for a class. About the author: Yu Hua, male, born in 1960 in Hangzhou. He worked as a dentist from 1978 to 1983. Yu Hua began to write fiction in 1983, then got a master’s degree in Chinese Language and Literature from Beijing Normal University in 1991. The film “To Live” was based on his novel of same name. This story “1986” shows Yu Hua’s attitude towards history, something I will leave to you folks to discover and discuss here. This is a story of a history teacher who disappears during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and returns as a lunatic on a spring day ten years later. By this time everyone has forgotten the ten year long upheaval and everyone is busy starting new lives. The teacher’s wife has remarried to another man. Changes abound everywhere. In response to those changes around him, the teacher-turned-lunatic turns to ancient Chinese punishments by publicly mutilating himself. This should be a fun story. You can either input the story’s title into your favorite Internet search engine to find a copy to read online, or you can use the link that I found http://book.kanunu.cn/html/2005/0716/363.html where you can read the online copy of the story. Or maybe someone here can create some nice text or pdf document of the story to share with us or share with us a nice weblink to read the story. Remember we are reading this in Chinese as I believe the reading of Chinese short stories in the original is an excellent exercise for language development and literary appreciation. Have fun. Quote
stoney Posted May 31, 2009 at 03:51 PM Report Posted May 31, 2009 at 03:51 PM Thanks Meng Lelan for spearheading this. I still have some confusion about the last story we read by this author (我没有自己名字）, especially the time line and precisely who some of the characters were. My Chinese is not so great, but I read it twice and get the main ideas. However I wonder if even a Chinese person reading his story might have some confusion. I mean, I think he wants to create some confusion, perhaps plunge us into the confused/ other reality of his characters ( 来发）. I look forward to reading this next story! Quote
Meng Lelan Posted May 31, 2009 at 04:20 PM Author Report Posted May 31, 2009 at 04:20 PM Stoney, I answered your question about the May story in the May Story of the Month thread - take a look there on the last page and I hope it helps. Quote
gato Posted June 1, 2009 at 02:25 PM Report Posted June 1, 2009 at 02:25 PM An op-ed by Yu Hua. It might be relevant to the story. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/opinion/31tiananmen.html?_r=1&ref=opinion Quote
Shadowdh Posted June 1, 2009 at 11:01 PM Report Posted June 1, 2009 at 11:01 PM Nice story... I read the english for my Uni course and I liked it... my take is a bit different to yours Meng Lelan... not sure if I should write more on the story so as not to spoil it for those who will read it... I had to do a presentation re Yu Hua as part of my culture class... I have also attached a text (UTF8 encoding) version and a .doc (1997-2003) for those that may want to read it with Pleco or another reader... 一九八六年.txt 一九八六年.doc Quote
Meng Lelan Posted June 2, 2009 at 12:18 AM Author Report Posted June 2, 2009 at 12:18 AM 谢谢 to shadowh for the files. And we'd like to hear your take on this story, if you have spoilers you can forewarn of that in the post. Anytime you're ready we're ready too. Quote
Shadowdh Posted June 2, 2009 at 10:11 PM Report Posted June 2, 2009 at 10:11 PM 没问题，dear lady... Just a bit more about Yu Hua apparently he only had the "motivational" posters to read due to a lot of literature being banned but managed to read a few "forbidden" books which is where he got his love of literature... He also got his inspiration for some of his stories (most notably the one about selling blood) through his parents work (I think they were doctors by memory)... About the story... My take on it is that it was not so much about history in general as the Chinese attitude to the cultural revolution and how they could forget it so soon or at least pretend that it never happened and that all was ok now... the madman who comes to town is most probably the history teacher who disappeared... and its through him and his actions that we are lambasted (great word that, meaning brow beaten or forced) into remembering something darker, to go beyond all the propaganda that tells us everything is now a pure spring and learn from our mistakes... at least thats the feeling I take from it... good story if a little graphic at times... will enjoy reading this in Chinese... thanks Meng Lelan.. Quote
Meng Lelan Posted June 2, 2009 at 11:07 PM Author Report Posted June 2, 2009 at 11:07 PM . good story if a little graphic at times... will enjoy reading this in Chinese... thanks Meng Lelan.. 不谢， shadowh. I so enjoy the laundry list of various Chinese tortures at the story's beginning. The more graphic, the merrier. Quote
Meng Lelan Posted June 26, 2009 at 10:57 PM Author Report Posted June 26, 2009 at 10:57 PM Ok, I'm one third of the way through this story. Anyone else? This is starting to read like a Harry Potter novel. Human heads that appear like street lamp lights, mysterious footsteps, and the arrival of the drooly madman to the village. Quote
roddy Posted July 29, 2009 at 03:37 AM Report Posted July 29, 2009 at 03:37 AM July draws to a close - how are we getting on with this? Quote
Meng Lelan Posted July 29, 2009 at 03:43 AM Author Report Posted July 29, 2009 at 03:43 AM Well I finished the story. I thought it was gory alright. I don't know about what others here on this thread think but it was hard for me to see the point/meaning of this story other than "100 Different Ways to Self-Mutilate". Or maybe my brain is simply baked from San Antonio's ultra-heat. Anyway this thread is rapidly drawing to a close. I have already thought of a Short Story for August. What happens after August is a story in itself, waiting to hear if I get into the master's program in blind and vision impaired education. If so then I am going to be busy to the billionth power, I guess, not sure how it's going to impact on this Short Story project. We'll see. Quote
Gleaves Posted July 29, 2009 at 05:37 PM Report Posted July 29, 2009 at 05:37 PM I made it through halfway of this one. I found what I did read quite colorful, but confusing. My Chinese wasn't really up to the task. I couldn't really follow the characters (are there names in this story?) or the plot. Maybe I'll revisist this one later. I'll give the August story a shot. Quote
Meng Lelan Posted July 29, 2009 at 06:36 PM Author Report Posted July 29, 2009 at 06:36 PM And I got bored with one mutilation after another. I don't think it was such a great story, but that's just me not a reflection on the author. August story is going to be much easier. I would probably rate it upper intermediate level. Stay tuned. Quote
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