Fiction. Asian &amp; Asian American Studies. Translated from the Chinese by Haili Kong and Howard Goldblatt. A major work by a towering figure in twentieth century Chinese literature, WARD FOUR intimately reveals the frailties and strengths of the human spirit and the will to survive. Set in a hospital in rural China during World War II, it provides a haunting window into the isolation and displacement faced by ordinary citizens. Ba Jin's hospital ward is a dark corner where life and death intersect and the absurd is transformed into the comic. Amid the uncertainties of war are the foundations of strength and the will to survive during one of the darkest periods of Chinese history. "A triumph of humanism in war-ravaged China of the 1940s, this work of autobiographical fiction not only shows Ba Jin at his best, but also demonstrates why he is rightly viewed as the 'conscience of China.'"—Michelle Yeh, department of East Asian languages, University of California, Davis Haili Kong is professor of Chinese literature at Swarthmore College. Howard Goldblatt is professor of Chinese literature at Notre Dame University.

Ward Four: A Novel of Wartime China

Literature & Fiction

Jin, Ba

Genre Fiction

China Books

Ba Jin was one of China's most influential and prolific Chinese authors. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975 for his masterpiece Family. He wrote more than 80 books that made him famous in China and throughout the world.

The Autobiography of Ba Jin

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Univ of Indianapolis Pr

Chengdu, Central China, 1919. The brothers Gao—Juexin, Juemin, and Juehui—live according to the traditions their family has followed for centuries. Four generations now live under the same roof, which gives Grandfather Gao, the clan's patriarch, a special pride. In the great family house, the older members continue their unmoved lives as if nothing were changing; as if General Zhang's troops, preparing a new attack at the gates of the city, could not reach them; as if the new airs from books and magazines weren't transforming their existence. The three Gao brothers are in agreement that the old traditions—arranged marriage, outdated rituals, and foot binding and long hair requirements for women—lack meaning, but not everyone has the strength necessary to rebel. Published for the first time in 1931, Familia portrays the disintegration of Feudalism in China at the beginning of the 20th century and is considered one of the most important works of contemporary Chinese literature.

Familia (Spanish Edition)

Literary

Libros del Asteroide

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