12 Comments

Thank you for this. I'm so glad to learn about Yan Lianke!

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It’s fun to share him. I only discovered him a few months ago.

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It’s good to hear of this author. My husband and I spent the summer of 1988 in China with a Christian college ministry, and we have been following events in China ever since.

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Speaking with his US publisher, Yan Lianke said it feels like the Cultural Revolution again. That could be overstated, but the recent clamping down has echoes of it.

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Reminds me a bit of Hans Fallada (the everyday working class figure under a totalitarian regime angle)

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I’m not familiar with him. Thanks for the tip!

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Thanks for lifting this up.

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My pleasure!

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A nice essay and a reminder that fiction - and the imagination - are not just pastimes but can help bring new realities into being. And bravo to Yan for finding his writer's way.

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Yes, I can hardly imagine the psychological, social, political gymnastics necessary to manage what he does.

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I am putting this author on my list. Excellent essay!

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Thanks, JB! The Day the Sun Died is a trip!

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