Reporter | Chen Jiajing
Edit | Yellow Moon
1 "Infinity Shape"
[Irish] By Coron McCain translated by Fang Berlin
99 Reader, People's Literature Publishing House, 2022-01
The Infinity Shape is a 2020 work by Irish writer Coron McCain, who won the 2020 French Best Foreign Novel Award and was selected for the Booker Prize Long List, the Orwell Award Short List, and the Dublin Literary Award Final List. The title "Infinity" refers to polygons with infinite edges and infinite vertices, and the novel also adopts a unique chapter arrangement, with 1001 chapters presenting the hatred and reconciliation of the Middle East for generations. The protagonists of the novel are two fathers who have lost their beloved daughters, one is a Jew in Israel and the other is a Muslim in Palestine, the two originally lived in opposite poles, but because of the tragic loss of their beloved daughter in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, they have established a connection. They decided to use their stories to prove to the world that only peace could end the hatred and trauma that had been passed down from generation to generation.
The story of the two fathers is not only the core of the novel, but also the reality of reality. McCain boldly combines imagination and inference with history, breaking time and space with free-jumping chapters, and allowing readers to step into the tension-filled conflict and see the infinite complexity reflected behind the events. In addition to this book, the Coron McCain series includes "The Zolli Girl", "The Dancer", "Turn, This Great World", "The Light at the End of the Tunnel", "Flying Over the Atlantic" and so on.
"The Fool Unigo Is Gone"
Du Lan by
Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House 2022-01
"The Fool Unigo Disappeared" is the first collection of short stories by young Mongolian writer Du Lan. Most of the 11 stories in the book start with animals or plants, full of mystery, but they still tell about human emotions, desires and tragedies. For example, in "Fire", the newborn child Ofe, who is wrapped in sheepskin and is not tolerated by the world; in "Mighty Tiger", the tiger sometimes patiently listens to people's heartfelt words, sometimes swings its tail to confuse people; in "Fool Unigo Disappears", the fool Unigo, who is rejected by the townspeople, has amazing natural beauty, he is ridiculed, abused, and even cut his throat, and later "disappeared in the spring when a weasel ran around the world".
It is worth mentioning that many of the protagonists' names in the novel do not originate from the Chinese tradition, but are full of rich metaphors and symbolic meanings. For example, "Unigo" is a Mongolian word meaning "fox", which is the natural enemy of the "weasel" mentioned in the novel. Between fairy tales and fables, Dulan makes people and things enjoy equal rights, and also makes all things one, facing a wide range of tolerance and freedom.
We Are All Circus: The Bergman Anthology
[Swedish] Ingmar Bergman by Wang Kaimei translated
Yazhong Culture | CITIC Publishing Group 2022-03
The famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman wrote and directed more than 60 films and more than 170 plays in his lifetime, won many international film awards, and was known as the "philosopher of the film industry". From the early "Bad Girl Monica" that made him famous, to the film history classics of the 60s, "Virgin Spring" and "Wild Strawberries", to the famous "Silent Trilogy" "Still in the Mirror", "Winter Light" and "Silence", Bergman's films always focus on people's hearts and souls, thinking about the human situation and the loneliness and pain of life in modern society from a philosophical perspective. He once said: "I believe — at least I do want to believe — that the greatest mission of cinema is to put up a mirror for the audience, for people to see themselves and others in it, to see the most intimate emotions of human nature, the emotions that those who stand in a strong position in our society try to deny." ”
Divided into four parts: "Art and Artists", "Criticism and Criticism", "My Dialogue with Me", and "Debate", this collection of essays published by Bergman from the 1930s to the 1990s includes essays, private letters, diaries, film criticism, literary criticism, lecture transcripts, etc. Unlike the harsh, oppressive atmosphere of his films, real-life Bergman is spicy and humorous, sincere and straightforward, always able to respond to changes in the world around him with a relaxed posture. The book is full of his laughter and anger at the film critics and audiences, as well as his self-questioning and ridicule, presenting readers with his little-known side.