Tao Xinlei recommended the book
Too Much to Think About
(U.S.) Saul Bellow, translated by Li Junyi and Somalia, People's Literature Publishing House, March 2021 edition, 99.00 yuan.
It is not that Saul Bellow is how dazzling the Nobel Prize crown is, but that more than 20 years ago, I saw Gan Yang mention in "Will Be Wrong" that "every time Bellow publishes a new novel, it often causes a tension in the professor circle of the University of Chicago..." It gives the impression that this person's writing is mostly harsh and mean, which will trigger the controversy of "selling friends and asking for papers". In this collection of non-fiction essays, meanness is indispensable, the kind that makes people clap their thighs, but more profound, sharp and intelligent. Bellow is like a "hungry observer", with a keen perspective, meticulous description, and deep thinking, taking a glimpse of American society for more than half a century.
"Vertigo"
(De) Winfried Seybard, Guangxi Normal University Press, April 2021, 52.00 yuan.
As if experiencing a rewind effect, the finale of Sebald's novel series turned out to be his debut. Facing the past and dwelling on memories is in line with Sebard's consistent posture. Vertigo was published in 1990, when the writer was 46 years old. From his debut, it can be seen that the "Sebald style" has been established - through the deliberate blurring of literary genres such as novels, autobiographies, histories, documentary documents, travelogues, etc., so that private memories and public venues are intertwined and integrated, and the virtual and the real are moved. It is worth mentioning that unlike the later "Immigrant" and "Austerlitz", in Which Wittgenstein walks through the paper like a ghost, "Vertigo" is a book of homage to Kafka.
"The Liar Comes to the South"
A Yi, Yilin Publishing House, April 2021 edition, 58.00 yuan.
There are A B's old fans who say that his story does not hurt. Privately thinking that there is no need to borrow cruelty and wildness, no longer limited to telling the struggle of the bottom life, the absurd and true stories in "The Liar Comes to the South" are more like the opposite of the Treasure Book of the Wind and Moon, and everyone looks at themselves and is shocking. A pair of widower neighbors, a widower neighbor who thinks that he can retire for the elderly, but because the neighbor's son-in-law sent meat in anger, eventually becomes the meat in the hands of the neighbor's son-in-law; the young man who does not learn any skills and the woman who wants to maintain his youth and beauty forever, and finally the young man is left with only a dying skin bag... Lust, impetuousness, greed, selfishness, self-deception, self-cleverness, glimpse a part of us in each story.
Cheese and Maggots
(Italian) Carlo Kinzburg, Guangxi Normal University Press, June 2021 edition, 75.00 yuan.
This is a deeply moving book. The first is Günzburg's academic attitude, when historical research a few decades ago was mostly focused on the great achievements of the emperor, he turned to those things that were silently ignored, abandoned or completely ignored by his predecessors, and launched a siege on a scattered fragment of history that he encountered by chance. The protagonist of this book single-handedly challenges religious and political authority. "The unknown name of the miller is remembered today precisely because of the challenge he lost," Günzburg said. Through the long river of hundreds of years of history, what can still hit the soft place of people's hearts is the loneliness of ordinary little people.
The Philosopher and the Powerful Man
James Roma, translated by Ge Xiaohu, Social Sciences Academic Press, September 2021 edition, 69.00 yuan.
As a famous moral philosopher, Seneca almost became the second Socratic philosophical martyr by calmly completing the Stoic "sacrifice" in the face of Nero's death. But Seneca was not just the one who advocated reason, simplicity, and restraint in his philosophical discourse. How to balance moral philosophy and political practice is not only the dilemma of Seneca, but also the problem of ordinary people today. It is worth mentioning that this book can be compared with Donno's "Reputation", and the story of "Two Seneca" is the truest interpretation of the entanglement and growth of power, wealth, and reputation.
Zhu Rongting recommended the book
"Bougainvillea and the Beautiful Boy"
Li Yu, September 2021 edition of Kyushu Publishing House, 48.00 yuan.
Taiwanese writer Li Yu, known for his "The Story of Wenzhou Street", from the experimental youth work in 1965, the "Wenzhou Street" series, a masterpiece of reflecting the history of his home country, and then returning to the traditional story in fluent words in late 2010, this "Bougainvillea and Beautiful Youth" was published in the last days of Li Yu's life, and the time of the chapter was nearly half a century, which is a collection of novels that comprehensively presents his creative trajectory. Fifteen novels about the life that was saved by the power of imagination, nature, animals, religion, and art. At the intersection of the heart of the mad demon and the intersection of life and death, we look at the people who are trapped in reality one by one, and they are frustrated, but they also move towards redemption, and what never disperses is literature and Li Yu's tenacious will.
The Orphan's New Year's Gift: A Collection of Rimbaud's Poems
By Arthur Rimbaud, translated by Wang Yipei, Guangxi Normal University Press, November 2021 edition, 46.00 yuan.
Time passes, years pass by, and life itself dies away at any time. Nowadays, in the face of orphans, loneliness, in the face of the "New Year" as promised, as in the face of ourselves, in the face of the essence of life, what kind of "gift" can we come up with? On the 130th anniversary of Rimbaud's death, poet and writer Wang Yipei made a new revision of his previously translated Rimbaud's works. Rimbaud's enigmatic life was only a short period of 37 spring and autumn, and he created a free and dazzling poetry world with a short creative career, using melancholy, forbearance, and strange words to make himself a legend in the history of poetry, opening a new wind in the modern poetry world, and shining like a meteor on the entire art world later.
Chronicles of the Guayaqui Indians
(French) Pierre Crest, Shanghai People's Publishing House, September 2021 edition, 98.00 yuan.
The Guayaqui, a group of Indians living in the dense forests of Paraguay, had a population of less than thirty by the end of the 1960s. The French anthropologist Pierre Crest made meticulous observations and writings. We follow the author deep into the Guayaki tribe, and in the common life with them, witness births, adulthoods, marriages, deaths, festivals... And ask ourselves: Can we give up the pursuit of everything, say goodbye to trepidation, refuse to yield to power, and refuse to overproduce, and live more calmly, freely and firmly, free from the shackles of the external world?
"Works of Invitation: Larkin's Essays"
(English) Philip Larkin, translated by Li Hui, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, June 2021 edition, 80.20 yuan.
Philip Larkin is an internationally renowned English poet whose work has been widely influenced and widely circulated, and has been praised by well-known writers such as Derek Walcott, Shemeth Heaney, Clive James, etc., and many poets have regarded his works as a source of inspiration for writing. "Invited Works: Larkin Essays" includes more than 50 essays, essays, book reviews and music reviews published by Larkin in newspapers, magazines and other media from 1955 to 1982, which occupies an important position in his creative career and can be said to condense the main aesthetic ideals and artistic views of Larkin's life. Larkin's writing is condensed, but also solemn and harmonious, many articles, although not long, but the words are pearlescent, which is respected by the European and American reading circles.
"Breaking Dawn"
Zhu Xining, Henan Literature and Art Publishing House, May 2021 edition, 68.00 yuan.
Zhu Xining is the father of the writers Zhu Tianxin and Zhu Tiantian, and his works are often compared with Lu Xun and Shen Congwen, but his focus is not only criticism, but sympathetic exploration. "Breaking Dawn" is the first time in mainland China that Zhu Xining's short story classic was published. Extending from the legend of the Northland countryside in "Iron Pulp" to the style of Taiwanese towns, the ancient Greek tragedy has evolved into the trivial daily life and inner battlefield of ordinary people, presenting a more modern and profound landscape. As a pioneer of Taiwanese modernist writing, Zhu Xining first showed a multi-dimensional exploration of modern writing in "Breaking Dawn", with an inexhaustible interest in studying language and enjoying it, as well as a highly mature modern consciousness.