The Four Books

The Four Books

by YanLianke (Author)

Synopsis

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2016 'One of China's greatest living authors and fiercest satirists' Guardian In the ninety-ninth district of a sprawling labour camp, the Author, Musician, Scholar, Theologian and Technician - and hundreds just like them - are undergoing Re-education, to restore their revolutionary zeal and credentials. In charge of this process is the Child, who delights in draconian rules, monitoring behaviour and confiscating treasured books. But when bad weather arrives, followed by the `three bitter years', the intellectuals are abandoned by the regime and left on their own to survive. Divided into four narratives, The Four Books tells the story of the Great Famine, one of China's most devastating and controversial periods. WINNER OF THE FRANZ KAFKA PRIZE 2014 NOMINATED FOR CZECH AWARD MAGNESIA LITERA 2014 HUA ZHONG WORLD CHINESE LITERATURE PRIZE 2013 FINALIST FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2013 WINNER OF THE HUA ZHONG WORLD CHINESE LITERATURE PRIZE 2013 SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE 2012 SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX FEMINA ETRANGER 2012 SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE 2011 WINNER OF THE LAO SHE LITERATURE AWARD 2004 WINNER OF THE LU XUN AWARD 1997

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 03 Mar 2016

ISBN 10: 0099569493
ISBN 13: 9780099569497
Book Overview: One of China's most important novelists tackles the country's great remaining taboo -- the Great Famine, in which at least 45 million died

Media Reviews
Arch and playful... [Yan Lianke] 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 *
It's a Chinese novel hailed across the planet as a masterpiece, and I'm normally the first to resist such an imposition before I've even opened the thing - but for once, the hype doesn't go far enough... a devastating, brilliant slice of living history -- Kate Saunders * The Times *
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... it is an extraordinary novel -- Isobel Hilton * Observer *
One of the masters of modern Chinese literature -- Jung Chang
Stark, powerful and compelling... A privilege * Independent *
Author Bio
Yan Lianke was born in 1958 in Henan Province, China. He is the author of numerous novels and short-story collections, including Serve the People!, Dream of Ding Village, Lenin's Kisses, The Four Books and The Explosion Chronicles. He has been awarded the Hua Zhong World Chinese Literature Prize, the Lao She Literary Award, the Dream of the Red Chamber Award and the Franz Kafka Prize. He has also been shortlisted for an array of prizes including the International Man Booker Prize, the Principe de Asturias Prize for Letters, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the FT/Oppenheimer Fund Emerging Voices Award and the Prix Femina Etranger. The Day the Sun Died won the Dream of the Red Chamber Award for the World's Most Distinguished Novel in Chinese. He lives and writes in Beijing.