張愛玲 book recommendations

[mr. fanglang]

For someone who has never read her books before, can someone recommend a good first book to read? Put it another way, what is your favorite 張愛玲 book? I mean the chinese books, not the translations.

[skylee]

I have these at home ->

對照記

流言

張看

傾城之戀

I like 燼餘錄 ->

在香港，我們初得到開戰的消息的時候，宿舍裡的一個女同學發起急來，道："怎麼辦呢？沒有適當的衣服穿！"她是有錢的華僑，對於社交上的不同的場合需要不同的行頭，從水上跳舞會到隆重的晚餐，都有充分的準備，但是她沒想到打仗。後來她借到了一件寬大的黑色棉袍，對於頭上營營飛繞的空軍大約是沒有多少吸引力的。逃難的時候，宿舍的學生"各自奔前程"。戰後再度相會她已經剪短了頭髮，梳了男式的菲律賓頭，那在香港是風行一時的，為了可以冒充男性。

我覺得非常難受——竟會死在一群陌生人之間麼？可是，與自己家裡人死在一起，一家骨肉被炸得稀爛，又有什麼好處呢？

圍城的十八天裡，誰都有那種清晨四點鐘的難挨的感覺——寒噤的黎明，什麼都是模糊，瑟縮，靠不住。回不了家，等回去了，也許家已經不存在了。房子可以毀掉，錢轉眼可以成廢紙，人可以死，自己更是朝不保暮。像唐詩上的"淒淒去親愛，泛泛入煙霧"，可是那到底不像這裡的無牽無掛的虛空與絕望。人們受不了這個，急於攀住一點踏實的東西，因而結婚了。

除了工作之外我們還念日文。派來的教師是一個年輕的俄國人，黃頭髮剃得光光地。上課的時候他每每用日語問女學生的年紀。她一時答不上來，他便猜："十八歲？十九歲？不會超過廿歲罷？你住在幾樓？待會兒我可以來拜訪麼？"她正在盤算著如何托辭拒絕，他便笑了起來道："不許說英文。你只會用日文說：'請進來。請坐。請用點心。'你不會說'滾出去！'"說完了笑話，他自己先把臉漲得通紅。

[skylee]

Oh and I like 姑姑語錄 too. I can see how 亦舒 is influenced by her. And I especially like this part ->

還有，她老是寫著"狠好"，"狠高興"，我同她辯駁過，她不承認她這裡應當用"很"字。後來我問她："那麼，'兇狠'的'狠'字，姑姑怎麼寫呢？"她也寫作"狠"。我說："那麼那一個'很'字要它做什麼呢？姑姑不能否認，是有這麼一個字的。"她想想，也有理。我又說："現在沒有人寫'狠好'了。一這樣寫，馬上把自己歸入了周瘦鵑他們那一代。"她果然從此改了。

[Ian_Lee]

My best recommendation: 傾城之戀

You should follow these three steps:

(1) Read the novel;

(2) Watch the movie (Chow Yun Fat was at his prime in the movie),

(3) If you happen to be in Hong Kong, go visit the place where it happened -- Repulse Bay Hotel. Even though the hotel has been transformed to a shopping mall, I heard that they keep the front-lining cafe in the verandah intact (I haven't verified it).

In mid-'80s during the last days of the hotel, I went all the way there just to spend an afternoon in the cafe imagining myself to be the guy in Zhang's novel:)

[Time-]

Well, I'm very interested in books. Could you write the titles in Pinyn too? Many thanks

Ciao.

[skylee]

Well, you can find the pinyin of the title of many of her works at the first one here -> http://www.google.com.hk/search?hl=zh-TW&q=Zhang+Ailing+Encyclop%C3%A6dia+Britannica&meta= , like -

Jinsuoji (The Golden Cangue)

Chenxiangxie—diyilu xiang (Scraps of Agalloch Eaglewood —The First Charge in the Incense Burner)

Qingcheng zhi lian (Love in a Fallen City)

Chuanqi (The Legend)

Liuyan (The Gossip)

Yangge (The Rice Sprout Song)

Chidi zhi lian (Naked Earth)

Yuannu (The Rouge of the North)

[Time-]

Perfect!

Could you tell me what's the English title of 傾城之戀?

Thanks a lot.

[mr. fanglang]

Skylee already mentioned it above. Love in a fallen city.

[kikalu]

hello everyone,

if you're still interested, chek this page:

http://book.sina.com.cn/nzt/zhangailing/

zhang ailing books online.

happy holiday!