• Complain

Yu Hua - Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China

Here you can read online Yu Hua - Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2014, publisher: Pantheon, genre: Prose. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

Yu Hua Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China
  • Book:
    Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    Pantheon
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    2014
  • ISBN:
    9780307379368
  • Rating:
    3 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 60
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

From the acclaimed author of and : thirteen audacious stories that resonate with the beauty, grittiness, and exquisite irony of everyday life in China. Yu Huas narrative gifts, populist voice, and inimitable wit have made him one of the most celebrated and best-selling writers in China. These flawlessly crafted stories unflinching in their honesty, yet balanced with humor and compassion take us into the small towns and dirt roads that are home to the people who make China run. In the title story, a shopkeeper confronts a child thief and punishes him without mercy. Victory shows a young couple shaken by the husbands infidelity, scrambling to stake claims to the components of their shared life. Sweltering Summer centers on an awkward young man who shrewdly uses the perks of his government position to court two women at once. Other tales show, by turns, two poor factory workers who spoil their only son, a gang of peasants who bully the village orphan, and a spectacular fistfight outside a refinery bathhouse. With sharp language and a keen eye, Yu Hua explores the line between cruelty and warmth on which modern China is precariously, joyfully balanced. Taken together, these stories form a timely snapshot of a nation lit with the deep feeling and ready humor that characterize its people. Already a sensation in Asia, certain to win recognition around the world, Yu Hua, in showcases the peerless gifts of a writer at the top of his form.

Yu Hua: author's other books


Who wrote Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Yu Hua

Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China

TRANSLATORS NOTE

Yu Hua published his first short story in 1983, when he was twenty-three. In the ebb and flow of his writing career since then, the early and mid-1990s stand out as an especially productive phase. Within the space of a few short years he completed a trio of novelsCries in the Drizzle, To Live, and Chronicle of a Blood Merchantthat firmly established him as a major figure in the Chinese literary scene. The reputation of these books, particularly To Live, which was soon adapted for the screen by Zhang Yimou, has tended to overshadow the short fiction that Yu Hua published during this same period. But the stories collected here, all written between 1993 and 1998, represent a distinctive body of work in their own way. Written in a spare, minimalist style, they sketch vignettes of everyday life in contemporary China, in keeping with the popular realism that characterizes To Live and Chronicle of a Blood Merchant. If there is a recurrent theme in Boy in the Twilight, it is the fractures and fluidities in human relationships during the reform era in China: marriages in crisis collapse or rebound, friendships are cemented or betrayed, in a precarious world where events may take an unexpected turn at any time. Yet Yu Hua does not entirely abandon the unorthodox stance of his earlier fiction, and comic absurdity rubs shoulders with tragedy as these stories unfold.

NO NAME OF MY OWN

One day, as I crossed the bridge with my carrying-pole on my shoulder, I heard someone say that Pug-nose Xu Asan had died, so I laid down my baskets and took the towel that I wore around my neck and rubbed the sweat off my face while I listened to them talk about how it had happened, how Pug-nose Xu Asan choked to death eating New Year cake. Id heard of someone choking to death on a peanut, but choking to death on New Year cake was a first as far as I knew. It was then they called me. Xu Asan Hey, Pug-nose

When I looked at the ground and went Mm, they burst out laughing.

What have you got in your hand? they asked.

I looked at my hand. Towel, I said.

There were gales of laughter. What are you doing to your face? someone asked.

Rubbing the sweat off, I said.

I dont know why they were so happy. They were laughing so hard they swayed back and forth like reeds in the wind. Wow, he can even say sweat! one of them spluttered, hand on his belly.

Another man was leaning back against the railing. Xu Asan! Pug-nose Asan! he cried.

Twice he said that, so I went Mm twice, too. Who is Xu Asan? he asked, clutching his gut.

I looked at him, and then at the other people next to him. Their mouths were gaping their eyes too. Yeah, who is Pug-nose Xu Asan? they asked.

Xu Asan is dead, I said.

Their goggling eyes blinked shut, but their mouths opened even wider. How loudly they laughed louder still than the clang of iron in the smithy. A couple of them sat down on the ground, and after laughing helplessly for a while one asked me with a gasp, Xu Asan is dead. So who are you?

Who am I? I watched as they laughed fit to bust, unsure how to answer. Ive got no name of my own, but as soon as I walk in the street Ive got more names than anybody else. Whatever they want to call me, thats who I am. If theyre sneezing when they run into me, they call me Sneeze; if theyre coming out of the toilet, they call me Bum-wipe; when they want my attention, they call me Over-here; when they wave me away, they call me Clear-off then theres Old Dog, Skinny Pig, and whatnot. Whatever they call me I answer to, because Ive got no name of my own. All they need to do is take a few steps in my direction, look at me and call out a greeting, and I answer right away.

I thought of what to say. What people call me most often is Hey! So, hoping this was a good answer, I said, I am Hey!

Their eyes widened. Who are you? they asked.

Perhaps Id said the wrong thing. I looked at them, not daring to say more.

Eh, whats that? one asked again. Who did you say you were?

I shook my head. I am Hey.

They looked at each other and laughed, ha ha ha. I stood there and watched them laughing, and I began to laugh myself. People who were crossing the bridge saw us all laughing so loudly, and they joined in. Someone wearing a bright-colored shirt called out to me, Hey!

Mm, I went.

The man in the bright shirt pointed at someone else. Did you go to bed with his wife? he asked.

I nodded. Mm.

The other man started cursing. You son of a bitch!

Then he pointed at the man in the bright shirt. You had a good time in bed with his wife, didnt you? he said.

I nodded. Mm.

Everybody had a big laugh. They often asked me this kind of thing, or asked if Id slept with somebodys mother. Many years ago, when Mr. Chen was still alive before Mr. Chen died, like Pug-nose Xu Asan Mr. Chen, standing under the eaves, pointed his finger at me. The way you people carry on, he said, dont you realize you just end up making him look good? If youre to be believed, it would take several truckloads to carry all the women hes gone to bed with.

As I watched them laughing, I remembered what Mr. Chen said. I went to bed with both your wives, I told them.

When they heard this, their smiles vanished right away and they stared at me. In a moment the man in the bright shirt came over, raised his fist, and hit me so hard my ears were buzzing for minutes afterward.

When Mr. Chen was still alive, he would often sit behind the counter of the pharmacy. There was a huge array of open or unopened little drawers behind his head and he would hold a little set of scales in those long, thin hands of his. Sometimes Mr. Chen would walk to the door of the pharmacy, and seeing me answer to any name I was called, he would say something. He would say, Its such a sin, what you people are doing, and still you get a kick out of it. Therell be a price to pay sooner or later. Everybody has a name, and hes got one too, his name is Laifa.

When Mr. Chen mentioned my name, when he said I was Laifa, my heart would skip a beat. I remember when my dad was alive, how hed sit on the threshold and tell me things. Laifa, hed say, bring the teapot over here.

Laifa, now youre five

Laifa, heres a satchel for you.

Laifa, youre ten already, but still in first grade, damn it.

Laifa, forget about school, help your dad carry coal.

Laifa, just another few years and youll be as strong as I am.

Laifa, your dads not got long to live, not long now the doctor says Ive got a tumor in my lung.

Laifa, dont cry. Laifa, when Im gone you wont have your mom, or your dad either.

Laifa, Lai fa, Lai , Lai fa, Laifa, your dad is dying Laifa, feel here, your dad is getting stiff Laifa, look, your dads looking at you

After my dad died, I made my rounds and walked the streets, delivering coal to people all around town. Laifa, wheres your dad? they would ask.

He died, I said.

They would chuckle. Laifa, what about your mom?

She died, I said.

Laifa, are you a halfwit?

I nodded. Im a halfwit.

When my dad was alive, he would say to me, Laifa, youre a simpleton. You were in school for three years, but you still cant recognize a single character. Laifa, its not your fault, its your moms fault. When she was giving birth, she squeezed your head too tight. Laifa, its not your moms fault either. Your head was too big, you were the death of her

LAIFA, HOW DID YOUR MOM DIE? they asked.

She died in childbirth, I said.

Which child was that? they asked.

Me, I said.

How did she give birth to you? they asked again.

With one foot in the coffin, I said.

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China»

Look at similar books to Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China»

Discussion, reviews of the book Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.