Synopses & Reviews
From master storyteller Yan Lianke, winner of the prestigious Franz Kafka Prize and a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize,
The Four Books is a powerful, daring novel of the dog-eat-dog psychology inside a labor camp for intellectuals during Maos Great Leap Forward. A renowned author in China, and among its most censored, Yans mythical, sometimes surreal tale cuts to the bone in its portrayal of the struggle between authoritarian power and mans will to prevail against the darkest odds through camaraderie, love, and faith.
In the ninety-ninth district of a sprawling reeducation compound, freethinking artists and academics are detained to strengthen their loyalty to Communist ideologies. Here, the Musician and her lover, the Scholaralong with the Author and the Theologianare forced to carry out grueling physical work and are encouraged to inform on each other for dissident behavior. The prize: winning the chance at freedom. They're overseen by preadolescent supervisor, the Child, who delights in reward systems and excessive punishments. When agricultural and industrial production quotas are raised to an unattainable level, the ninety-ninth district dissolves into lawlessness. And then, as inclement weather and famine set in, they are abandoned by the regime and left alone to survive.
Review
PRAISE FOR THE FOUR BOOKS"A searing, allegorical view of Chinese society during some of the darkest moments of the Mao era. . . . Yan cements his reputation as one of China's most importantand certainly most fearlessliving writers." Kirkus Reviews
Review
PRAISE FOR THE FOUR BOOKS"An original work of art . . . The Four Books shows Yan in top satirical form." Malcolm Forbes, The National
"[The Four Books] is driven by a cold fury at the events it recounts, its satire edged with Swiftian moral disgust. It is unsparing in its picture of the ways in which totalitarian habits of thought seep deep into personal relations, and it is smart in its depiction of how intellectuals get co-opted by the system . . . [Yans] fiction of ideas feels hard won and genuine, an expression of sorrow, bafflement, anger, and love." Robert Anthony Siegel, The Rumpus
"Arch and playful. . . . [Yan] deploys offbeat humour, anarchic set pieces and surreal imagery to shed new light on dark episodes from modern Chinese history. . . . [A] brave, brilliant novel." David Evans, Financial Times
"[The Four Books is] a Chinese novel hailed across the planet as a masterpiece, and Im normally the first to resist such an imposition before I've even opened the thingbut for once, the hype doesnt go far enough. . . . Stupendous and unforgettable . . . a devastating, brilliant slice of living history." Kate Saunders, The Times (UK)
"No other writer in today's China has so consistently explored, dissected and mocked the past six and a half decades of Chinese communist rule. . . . An extraordinary novel, one that both commemorates the states victims and defies China's state-sponsored amnesia." Isabel Hilton, Guardian
"A satirical tale about abuse of power and the vicious survivalist psychology of people who have been robbed of their moral and intellectual compass . . . brilliantly chilling . . . The Four Books captures an aspect of Chinese life which is hard to imagine and understand for a foreigner, and Yans skilful depiction reaffirms why he is Chinas most heralded and censored modern writer." The South China Morning Post
"The Four Books should be celebrated for its originality. . . . A fascinating approach to a daring and interesting subject." The Harvard Crimson
"One of contemporary Chinese literature's richest, wittiest, most seductive and powerful novels. . . . A joy to read." The Saturday Paper (Au)
"A searing, allegorical view of Chinese society during some of the darkest moments of the Mao era. . . . Yan cements his reputation as one of China's most importantand certainly most fearlessliving writers." Kirkus Reviews
"Yan has built his substantial career on exposing the surreal absurdity of Chinas 20th-century tragedies. . . . [This] multilayered novel is . . . a vital historical testimony." Library Journal (starred review)
"A stinging indictment of the illogic of bureaucracy and tyranny . . . the literary structure is tight and the prose incredibly accessible. Readers will have difficulty putting this down." Publishers Weekly
"One of the masters of modern Chinese literature, Yan Lianke gives all the pleasures one gets from reading. He can extract humor from the bleakest situation. I wholeheartedly recommend this latest book." Jung Chang
"[A] rich and complex novel." Booklist
Synopsis
Acclaimed and award-winning author Yan Liankes new novel, THE FOUR BOOKS, is an astonishing, darkly satirical, and bold story of a naive child put in charge of a re-education camp for intellectuals during the Great Leap Forward. Divided into four voicesfour ways of narrating the madness of menYan Lianke delivers a poignant and poetic novel of fraternity, love, and faith in humanity against the darkest odds.
THE FOUR BOOKS, whose title refers both to the four canons of Confucianism and the four Gospels, is a work of violent, shocking, alternating voices that tell the story of the great famine that took place over three years (from 1959 to 1961) during the Great Leap Forward, imagined by Mao, costing the lives of more than thirty-six million people. Yan Lianke brings readers a deeply human book, denouncing the cruelty and murderous madness of a regime in its most inhumane moments.
Synopsis
Acclaimed author Yan Lianke's
The Four Books is a daring, darkly satirical story of the dog-eat-dog psychology inside a labor camp during China's "three bitter years" of famine. This mythical, symbolic, sometimes surreal tale portrays the absurdity and grotesquerie of this traumatic period, which has been a taboo subject for half a century.
In the ninety-ninth district of a sprawling labor camp, a group of intellectuals are imprisoned to restore their commitment to Communist ideologies. Here, the Musician and her lover, the Scholaralong with the Author and the Theologianlive inside a community where everyone is encouraged to inform on each other for dissident behavior. The prize: winning political favor and the chance at freedom. They're overseen by preadolescent supervisor, the Child, who delights in draconian rules, policing inmates' conduct, and confiscating books. When massively inflated production quotas in steel-making and grain-harvesting rise to an unattainable level, the prisoners exhaust themselves to meet their goals. As famine and inclement weather arrive, the inmates are abandoned by the regime and left on their own to survive. The Four Books captures the universal power of camaraderie, love, and faith against oppression and the darkest odds.
About the Author
Yan Lianke is the author of numerous short story collections and novels, including Serve the People!, Lenin's Kisses, and Dream of Ding Village, which was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and adapated into a film (Til Death Do Us Part). He is the winner of two of China's most prestigious literary awards, the Lu Xun prize and the Lao She award, and he was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.