Five Spice Street

by Can Xue, Karen Gernant (Translator), Zeping Chen (Translator)

The first full-length novel by Chinese author Can Xue to appear in English

Five Spice Street tells the story of a street in an unnamed city whose inhabitants speculate on the life of a mysterious Madam X. The novel interweaves their endless suppositions into a work that is at once political parable and surreal fantasia. Some think X is 50 years old; others that she is 22. Some believe she has occult powers and has thereby enslaved the young men of the street; others think she is a clever trickster playing mind games with the common people. Who is Madam X? How has she brought the good people of Five Spice Street to their knees either in worship or in exasperation? The unknown narrator takes no sides in the endless interplay of visions, arguments, and opinions. The investigation rages, as the street becomes a Walpurgisnacht of speculations, fantasies, and prejudices. Madam X is a vehicle whereby the people bare their souls, through whom they reveal themselves even as they try to penetrate the mystery of her extraordinary powers.

Five Spice Street is one of the most astonishing novels of the past twenty years. Exploring the collective consciousness of this little street of ordinary people, Can Xue penetrates the deepest existential anxieties of the present day—whether in China or in the West—where the inevitable impermanence of identity struggles with the narrative within which identity must compose itself.

Genres: Fiction, China, Asia, Chinese Literature, Humor, Literature, Novels

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

残雪

Can Xue (Chinese: 残雪; pinyin: Cán Xuĕ), née Deng Xiaohua (Chinese: 邓小华), is a Chinese avant-garde fiction writer, literary critic, and tailor. She was born May 30, 1953 in Changsha, Hunan, China. Her family was severely persecuted following her father being labeled an ultra-rightist in the Anti-rightist Movement of 1957. Her writing, which consists mostly of short fiction, breaks with the realism of earlier modern Chinese writers. She has also written novels, novellas, and literary criticisms of the work of Dante, Jorge Luis Borges, and Franz Kafka. Some of her fiction has been translated and published in English.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Revised, pictures added 12/7/22]

An attractive married woman scandalizes a small city in China with her occult hobbies and by (possibly) having an affair. She may be 30 years old or 50, and, in fact, we know almost nothing about her for certain.



You know the old thing about ‘people attribute to others their own motives.’ It becomes clear that everyone sees aspects of themselves in her. (Much of her occult activity involves mirrors.) There can be no agreement among the townspeople about who she really is and what she is up to.

The locals hold community meetings to discuss her. A reporter appears to investigate and to write up her story. Thus we have a parody of the Chairman Mao era of community meetings, re-education and self-criticism. Since the author was born in 1953, her parents were targeted and she lived through these terrible times of Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

Female characters are developed in-depth but men seem peripheral to the story. There is a lot of psychological insight in this work but 330 pages of continuous speculation about who this woman is pushes our patience and the story becomes, at times, a chore to read.



Wikipedia says the author has been described as "China’s most prominent author of experimental fiction.” She has written about 15 novels, novellas or collections of short stories, all translated into English. And yet, numbers on GR about ratings and reviews show Can Xue is still relatively unknown in the English reading world despite having two works longlisted for the Booker International prize. (But not this book.) In fact if you value GR ratings, this one, Five Spice Street, is rated only 3.3 - quite low.

Top photo of Dali, Yuunan, in southwest China from china.org.cn
The author from wordswithoutborders.org

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sitting here trying to figure out how to describe the experience of reading this novel and here is what I came up with: Reading this novel is like watching a game of Go when you don't know any of the rules. Or maybe, it's like playing Go yourself, but you make up your own rules, and your partner makes up a different set of rules, and you don't tell each other the rules of your game and then you go ahead and play that way together until the board is filled with small stones and you have a grand old time.

Both this novel and the game of Go are from China but that is purely coincidental. The novel is not like Go in the way of: "this is a very Chinese novel, like Go is a very Chinese game." No. The novel is like Go in that there are distinct patterns in the prose, black, white, black, white, and as I read along the words make patterns, but the patterns I perceive are made up in my own head, and I can't say for sure what it means, or who won, even when the game is over.

Can I say how much fun it was, though? How much it delighted me? There. I've said it.

[Το Άθχημο γατί του θενιόρ Γκουαναμίρου · Rating 3 out of 5]

Η Madame X καταφθάνει κάποια στιγμή με τον άνδρα της και τον εξάχρονο γιο τους, τον Μικρό Bao, στην γειτονιά της Five Spice Street και ανοίγουν μια μικρή καντίνα στη γωνία του δρόμου.

Σταδιακά οι κάτοικοι αρχίζουν να αποκτούν μια εμμονή με οτιδήποτε την αφορά, το παρελθόν της, την ηλικία της, την εμφάνισή της, την σεξουαλική της συμπεριφορά, την εξωτερική της εμφάνιση και τον εσωτερικό της κόσμο. Και αυτή δεν κάνει το παραμικρό για να βγει από το στόχαστρό τους, τουλάχιστον στην αρχή. Φαίνεται ιδιαίτερα απορροφημένη από τις μεταφυσικές της ενασχολήσεις που περιλαμβάνουν ένα είδος μαγείας και αποκρυφισμού και μια αλλόκοτη φιλοσοφική προσέγγιση του κόσμου.

Και σαν να μην έφταναν όλα αυτά ερωτεύεται κιόλας τον καλό οικογενειάρχη Mr Q με αποτέλεσμα να τον αποτρελάνει και να προκαλέσει χάος και απανωτές αναστατώσεις στην γειτονιά, μια συνοικία που δεν ξέρει κανείς πώς να την χαρακτηρίσει, είναι άραγε οι φιλήσυχοι, καλοκάγαθοι άνθρωποι που παρατηρούν με δέος την παράξενη γυναίκα να εισβάλλει κάνοντας άνω κάτω τις ζωές τους ή μήπως είναι εκείνοι οι υποκριτές που δεν μπορούν να αποδεχτούν τη διαφορετικότητα και την καταδιώκουν μετά μανίας μέχρι να την συνθλίψουν; Ίσως να είναι και τα δύο, σαν τις δύο όψεις του ίδιου νομίσματος.

Η Can Xue γεννημένη στα 1953 από μια οικογένεια διανοούμενων, ο πατέρας της εργαζόταν ως δημοσιογράφος στην τοπική εφημερίδα της επαρχίας Hunan, από μικρή ηλικία βρέθηκε αντιμέτωπη με την φρίκη των πολιτικών διώξεων που υπέστησαν οι δικοί της επί Μάο. Φτώχεια, πείνα, κακουχίες, στρατόπεδα εργασίας. Η ίδια η συγγραφέας δεν κατάφερε να τελειώσει το σχολείο και είναι σε μεγάλο βαθμό αυτοδίδακτη. Οι μεγαλύτερες επιρροές της προέρχονται από αυτό που η ίδια χαρακτηρίζει ως Δυτική Λογοτεχνία (μεταξύ άλλων έχει καταπιαστεί με συγγραφείς όπως οι Dante, Kafka, Borges, Calvino κτλ. ) και μάλιστα θεωρεί πως η κινεζική λογοτεχνία είναι ανώριμη διότι δεν διαθέτει ακόμα τον απαιτούμενο βαθμό αυτοανάλυσης και αυτοκριτικής.

Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο εκδόθηκε αρχικά στα στα 1988 με τίτλο Break through Performance (Πρωτοποριακή Παράσταση) και στα 2002 επανακυκλοφόρησε με τον οριστικό τίτλο Five Spice Street. Η ίδια η συγγραφέας αναφέρει σε μία συνέντευξή της πως το έργο της αυτό αποτελεί, πέρα από μια σάτιρα για τα σεξουαλικά ήθη της χώρας της, και μια μελέτη επάνω στη συγκαιρινή κατάσταση της σύχρονης τέχνης, όπου καυτηριάζει όλα τα διεστραμμένα αισθητικά μοντέλα και τις συναφείς λογοτεχνικές ιδέες. Είναι μια κριτική της κοινωνίας μέσα στην οποία ζει, όπου οτιδήποτε το διαφορετικό προκαλεί φόβο, αναστάτωση και απόρριψη ωσότου να απορροφηθεί μέσω της κομματικής επανεκπαίδευσης και να αποκτήσει, έστω και επιφανειακά, μια κανονικότητα, την ομοιογένεια εκείνη που επιβάλλεται από ένα ολοκληρωτικό καθεστώς.

Το στυλ της γραφής της πατάει σαφώς επάνω στα χνάρια του μοντερνισμού, αλλά η εμμονική υπερανάλυση και η απουσία πραγματικής δράσης, το γκροτέσκο και το παράλογο που συμπορεύονται με την πραγματικότητα, σχηματίζουν μια χαλαρή ενότητα που (τουλάχιστον σε αυτό το συγκεκριμένο έργο) μοιάζει περισσότερο προϊόν ενός αυτοματισμού, και ακριβώς στο σημείο αυτό, εκεί όπου όλα όσα ανασύρονται από τον κόσμο του υποσυνειδήτου υποβάλλονται σε μια σχολαστική διαδικασία εκλογίκευσης, χάνεται η μαγεία και η ομορφιά του κειμένου. Καταντάει φλύαρο και κουραστικό (σε ορισμένα σημεία τουλάχιστον γίνεται ανυπόφορο).

Ούτε ιδιαίτερα πρωτότυπο είναι το έργο της, αλλά κατανοώ πόσο σημαντική πρέπει να είναι η συμβολή της, καθώς υψώνεται ενάντια στο πνευματικό κατεστημένο της χώρας της, στο οποίο άλλωστε εστιάζει η κριτική της. Δεν διαθέτει ωστόσο το απαιτούμενο μέγεθος για να κομίσει κάτι νέο και φρέσκο στην παγκόσμια λογοτεχνία. Μουχλιασμένο και συμπλεγματικό "εκδυτικισμένο" avant garde που αν είχε γραφτεί στα 1930 θα μπορούσε να είναι και συγκλονιστικό.

Είναι αυτό ένα σύμπτωμα της πνευματικής καθυστέρησης και ανωριμότητας που η ίδια η συγγραφέας προσάπτει στην πατρίδα της ή απλώς δεν φέρει μέσα της το καινοτόμο πνεύμα που προϋποθέτει αυτό το είδος της λογοτεχνίας;

Για να μιλήσω ευθέως, θεωρώ πως είναι λάθος της που απαξιώνει την τεράστια λογοτεχνική και φιλοσοφική παράδοση της πατρίδας της, γιατί οτιδήποτε "νέο" προσπαθεί να εισάγει δεν μπορεί να καρποφορήσει, αν του στερήσεις το γόνιμο έδαφος και ιδού τα αποτελέσματα.

Ωστόσο έχοντας διαβάσει μόνο ένα έργο της θα ήταν άδικο να την κρίνω με περισσότερη αυστηρότητα. Μελλοντικώς μπορεί να σχηματίσω μια καλύτερη εικόνα για τη λογοτεχνική της εξέλιξη και να αναθεωρήσω τις απόψεις μου. Για την ώρα ωστόσο διατηρώ τις επιφυλάξεις μου.

[Alta]

Five Spice Street (Yale UP, 2009) by the contemporary Chinese writer Can Xue is one of the strangest, most original novels I’ve ever read. It also happens to be one of the worst translations. There is a difference between deliberate strangeness—Can Xue is known for her unusual writings—and a strange feeling resulting from a bad translation. Five Spice Street is strange, I’m afraid, in both ways.

The novel’s deliberate absurdness resides in its way of “telling a story” (the novel is full of ironic quotes, by the way). The “story” revolves around a few questions: Who is Madame X? What is her relationship with Q? Do they even have a relationship? For 329 pages, a series of picturesque characters from Five Spice Street—a widow proud of being both very sexy and virtuous, a coal miner infatuated with Madame X, a female friend jealous of Madame X, several male characters with dubious intentions, Madame X’s sister, who ends up living in a shed surrounded by…shit, and others—give us their points of view on Madame X. These perspectives intersect, complement or contradict each other in a way that is voluntarily absurd. The story takes the shape of a maze or of a diagram that is unrolled and undone before the reader’s eyes. The novel could be described as a “meta-story,” but unlike other such narratives, this one is very funny, and the writer doesn’t escape Can Xue’s ironic eye either. Unlike most classic novels about writers in which the character-writer is almost a copy of the author-writer, here, the writer is not even the same gender as the author (i.e., Can Xue). In fact, writers in general are made fun of as “geniuses” who are “usually sitting on a deserted mountaintop or the roof of a thatched cottage,” having dialogues with the gods.

One could also look at this novel as a sort of upside-down “comedy of manners” in which the author (Can Xue), using the research done by the character-writer and all the other characters on Five Spice Street, gives us a study of the sexual behavior of “our people.” There are many hilarious passages, but the comic is not always obvious, sometimes because of the translation, other times because of the grotesque element in many of the scenes, or because the comic of the language is based on a parody of Communist slogans.
Some of the scenes seem in the tradition of the slapstick (or that of traditional Chinese theater): “they reached the granary [where they usually had sex] and he was kicked in the butt and fell. This was a good kick, very educational. He was kicked back to reality, and began to fulfill a male’s responsibilities.”

Since the translation of a novel from the Chinese is not an easy feat, I am willing to give the two translators (Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping) some credit for their hard work, but still, I cannot but deplore the result. Here are a few (very few!) examples: “how could that person shout so loud as to scare a person?”; “I’m so confused inside” [rather than “outside”?]; “Everyone knew he was a doll” [in the context it’s clear the author meant “a puppet”]. And yet, in spite of the translation, the novel is worth reading. If someone at Yale UP reads this, please try to edit this novel and reprint it! The author deserves it.

[Janalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

low reviews for this book - I liked that nothing quite happens, that it is a book about gossip - Chinese style... and I found it really amusing. I actually didn't put it down for days...

[Kyle C · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Madame X comes to Five Spice Street, she immediately attracts attention. She opens a humble peanut shop but she seems to exude scandalous sexual energy. Some people think she is twenty, others think she is at least fifty. Some believe she practices the occult, others believe she is a dangerous femme fatale. Her "spare-time recreation", a loud midnight affair full of mysterious sounds, rouses the curiosity of all the wives on the street. Quickly, many come to believe she is having an affair with the married Q, a plain-looking man whom few had noticed. But this is not a story simply about adultery and transgression. It is about the obsessive gossip, the intrusive surveillance of the entire neighborhood, and the struggle to turn the traditional plot of an infidelity into a meaningful narrative. One doctor disputes the idea that Madame X is some lusty seductress (he doesn't think that women have such appetites); one of the wives doesn't believe that Q could have wooed her (men, to her, are no different from eunuchs and stones). Some conjecture that Madame X must be the descendent of village barbarians. Ultimately, in a mysterious, transcendental way, the majority come to believe that Madame X embodies the future, and she is elected the representative of everyone on the street. The adultery sparks a metaphysical debate about what adultery says about men and women, about desire and sexuality. In the background, a writer is attentively following the drama, penning down observations and interviewing the knowledgeable housewives for more details. No one likes his stories initially (too florid, too overwritten, too contradictory) and they dispute his objectivity and accuracy. It is a novel in which the conventional plot of a scandalous romance is turned inside-out, as writers, philosophers and doctors offer different interpretations of what the adultery represents.

This is a Bacchic, carnal, surreal novel. Women bite their husbands; a writer sneaks into a widow's room to demand that she critique his writing; a doctor climbs to the top of his house to pray for guidance but his involuntary farts permeate the entire house. In a comic style of faux ethnography, the narrator writes about Madame X as if describing some anthropological novelty ("hallucinatory drugs also suggests one of Madame X's other hobbies. Anyone who looks for X knows that X hides in the bedroom to engage in some kind of activity involving the sounds of jumping and other noises who causes is unknown"). The characters who populate the novel seem bestial and crazed. When the writer reads aloud his description of the adultery, the listeners, "ugly shrews", begin brushing the writer's face, yelling and screaming. Deranged violence seems natural in this novel. When the doctor suggests that X and Q had a mutual love, he argues in a delirious way "I agree with X and Q that biting and tripping are constituent elements of the joys in sex... My little sister—when attempting to get hold of joy—bites her beloved's scalp. She could gnaw out a hollow in the scalp if she didn't do it right". In this style of whimsical carnality, the novel turns the scandal of an adultery into a slapstick funhouse where the behavior and reactions of its characters are embellished into surreal hyperbole.

This is a clever metatextual novel that comically undermines itself. As the internal writer struggles to come up with his narrative about the adultery, he realizes he must transform his "shallow, flamboyant writing style into one that stressed character and true feelings in a dignified way"—but this is not Can Xue's novel at all. It is uproarious, comically bizarre, primitive, violent but also cerebral and meta-literary.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five Spice Street is a pretty polarizing piece of literature; people either love it, or love to hate it. I happen to love it. The book chronicles the rise, imminent fall, and slight resurgence of Madame X as an object of curiosity, astonishment and resentment by the denizens of Five Spice Street. Though Five Spice Street goes on for three miles, it seems that, strangely enough, all of Madame X's neighbors equally share the same vantage point into her wild and slightly hedonistic ways. X's neighbors ponder her peculiarities (her age, her origins, her activities, her sexual life) to the point of obsession, effectively yet unintentionally shifting their quotidian as to make X the centerpiece of all communal activity. Through the novel's disregard of space, time and logic, Five Spice Street pulls the reader into a whirlwind conglomeration of dark humor and self-constructed chaos. Xue's humor and wit sugar coat this critical commentary on post-Mao Chinese society, making this a book with a little something for every kind of reader.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark absurdist masterpiece. Illuminates herd mentality, and other wonderful human qualities through the portal of this street, these neighbors.

[Stacia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was indeed strange... strange in that I feel much of it went over my head. Like waaayyy over my head.

The first 200 pages, I couldn't follow much of the storyline. There was one (mostly about Madame X and her affair with Mr. Q), but other than that overall idea, the actual sentences were circular &/or nonsensical much of the time (at least to me). It's like there was a frame of a story but not necessarily a story within the frame.

An example from page 82-83:

"As the widow was speaking, the crowd noticed that Madam X's face wasn't at all the face they usually saw, but was that of some person they didn't recognize. On that different face were growing two hoary eyeballs without pupils. The eyeballs weren't moving, as if they were dead. Only her long, thin fingers were twiddling incessantly with a tiny mirror on her chest. Her fingers were very expressive, as if giving a mystical performance. She didn't say a word."

Um...??? 🤔 Many incidents are like this. Is it reality? Mystical? Metaphorical? Symbolic? Much of it seemed like nonsensical constructions strung together.

Once I made it about 200 pages, the story started making a little more sense. I don't know if there was a shift in storytelling, a shift in translation, or I just finally got used to the story and its cadence...?

Page 244 had this (imo) critical paragraph. I think it is really the author's note to us, the readers, concerning this entire book; I think it's her confession...

"Having brought the story to this point, the writer has left innumerable issues hanging. The story cannot end here. Everyone on Five Spice Street knows it's not over. So the writer must do his best to clarify the mess piece by piece. It has no beginning ("The Beginning" is merely an assumption), and has no ending, either. If earth and sun collide, the story may end but will no doubt begin again on another planet. The writer's task is like boring into the maze of a gigantic anthill, but he cannot shirk it. He knows through experience that only the methods of abstract art, used in diagramming each aspect of the maze, will enable him to lead readers to grasp the "general idea," even if they can't find their way through the specifics. This is the fascination of art. Though it can't be fathomed, it has supreme influence. Only the heartless and coarse have nothing to do with art."

So, yes, I think this book was a work of abstract art; this seems to be an exact description of the book itself. I did indeed grasp a general idea, but anything more specific eluded me. I guess I should feel satisfied in my confusion as I think that's exactly the point the author is making.

After 329 pages, though, I mostly want to scream, "What???" and "I don't get it!!!"

🤣

I guess I'll call it an interesting reading experience.

[Ferris]

I read a third of this book. I loved a quarter of this book. Then it fizzled, and in a rare fit of frustration, primarily with the author, secondarily with myself, put it down and did not finish two thirds of this book. It started out with such surreal, humorous, profound promise! Was it just me? I will never know. A mystery forever unsolved. Perhaps the Eighth Wonder of the World?.......Not. Not that important in the big scheme of life......just disappointing. Can Xue captured the minutiae of life on one street in a neighborhood of the most human humans you could possibly meet, with the introduction of the dread......wait for it....SOMEONE NEW AND DIFFERENT. Thus begins the romp of absurd, wonderful gossip, speculation, assumptions, wild postulations. but then......it stays that way and lost me before I could discover the "outcome", the "point", the anything. Oh well.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shockingly terrible, especially considering that three of Can Xue's novels are sitting at 4 o'clock from my asscheeks at the very moment of this writing on my "Favorite Books" shelf.
I couldn't even make it halfway through this one. Since CX is such a fantastic writer, I have to fault the translation. Maybe? Unclear, though, if that excuse will fly since the story is wildly uninteresting and absolutely like nothing else she wrote that I've read so far...I have to wonder if maybe the galleys got mixed up. There isn't a trace here of her verve, wit, and Twin Peaks-like weirdness here, just a lot of pointless gossip about a couple of adulterers in an alley somewhere in China.
Someone should investigate, and in good Can Xue fashion be forced to punch their way out of accursed cheese pits!

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange, surreal, kind of desperate house wives drama. Nothing really happens, but get an incredible look into how madam x manages to completely upend the town. There is no real plot to this, mainly people’s perceptions of her but we get great insight into these peoples lives. The narrator is also very unique in perception. Very funny, very strange. One of those “nothing happens but everything happens” type of things.

Translation is pretty great with only a few rough spots.
Excited to read more of her stuff. See why people say she’s china’s best chance for the Nobel prize.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

“To be a parasite or to hinder the actions of others was immoral. It was disgraceful. Also, if you foolishly and ignorantly idled away your time, you wouldn’t have any memories when you were old, just some shadows of the life that you had lived. You will regret this” (116)"

“Some idiosyncratic shortcomings are perhaps signs of being worthy people. I loathe mediocrity. A mediocre person without any shortcomings had absolutely no excuse for living in this world” (150)

[Zuuru · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lugesin eesti keeles.

Lühidalt, ei.

Pikemalt, ei.
Või siis, kui midagi peab ütlema - ma ei jaksanud seda päris otsast-otsani läbi lugeda. Pidev ja lõpmatu korrutamine ühe ja sama teema ümber, ilma, et midagi suuremat muutuks. Kõik räägivad mingit mõttetut lora, mul tekkis juba tunne, et ma lähen hulluks. Raamat oleks võinud - oleks pidanud! - olema lühinovell, kuna oli väga selge, et autoril ei olnud pärast ~ 100 lehekülge midagi rohkemat pakkuda. Sa saad aru mida raamatus öelda tahetakse, mis on autori arvamus inimloomusest, kuid seda saab palju paremini väljendada. Leonora Carringtoni "Kuuldesarv" on sarnaselt segu reaalsusest ja fantastikast, kus inimesed esitletakse ülepaisutatud iseloomude ja omapärasustega, kuid selle puhul teadis autor täpselt kuidas oma ideed sujuvalt kirja panna ja millal oma lugu lõpetada. Can Xue ainult ketrab ja ketrab, lõppu lihtsalt ei paistnud. Väga harva on mul raamatut lugedes igav.

Ärge piinake end selle teosega.

[Joshua Delos reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Xue is insane, absolutely out of her mind to write this.

[Hubert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most curious text -

There is very little in terms of plot: a group of neighbors who live on Five Spice Street gossip about an affair that takes place between a certain Ms. X and Mr. Q. The writer takes a quizzical postmodern approach to characterization, observing the actions of the subjects through the lens of the neighbors, but after reading for a while, we get the sense that none of the characters, including the writer, are reliable.

The text might also serve as a commentary on post-Cultural Rev. social norms - the amount of nosying around, getting involved in other 'people's business' might, according to writer Can Xue, perhaps speaks to this unfortunate legacy.

The writer does a good job of creating the sense of claustrophobia amongst the various characters who live on this Street. The novel, for me, also hinted at satire.

The work could be edited - probably doesn't need to be as long and dense as it presently stands. Some other posters have commented on weaknesses in the translation, but I can't speak to that.

[Twineaquarius · Rating 4 out of 5]

“…những thứ hiện giờ không thể lý giải, chúng ta đều không được vứt bỏ, bài học lịch sử đã cho thấy những gì không thể lý giải thường là cao cấp nhất”
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Tôi đã kết thúc cuốn này đúng dự tính là vào tháng 9, nhưng đọc xong tôi rơi vào mê cung của “Phố ngũ hương” đến độ không biết viết gì cho “Phố ngũ hương”. Tôi những tưởng “Phố Ngũ hương” mang chút âm hưởng của “Những người đẹp say ngủ” nhưng không hẳn, tôi cũng ngờ vực ở “Phố Ngũ hương” có gì đó của “1984” hay “Nàng Magarita và Nghệ nhân” nhưng chắc chắn không đến mức đó. “Phố Ngũ hương” kể về câu chuyện của cô X, một người đã du nhập vào khối gắn kết mang tên “Phố Ngũ hương”, nhưng lại không muốn hòa tan – hay kể cả hòa nhập. Từ câu chuyện của cô X với người dân phố Ngũ hương, người đọc trải qua những gam màu u tối trong mối quan hệ giữa X và những con người ở đó, trong quan điểm sống của mỗi người, cách mà người ta không muốn tìm hiểu hay không muốn chấp nhận một quan điểm sống khác. Ở “Phố Ngũ hương” không có nhân vật nào được đặt một cái tên cụ thể, tất cả chỉ là các biến số X, Q, Y… mà tôi ngờ rằng không phải tự dưng tác giả chọn những biến số ấy để cho từng nhân vật. Như cách chúng tôi đã được học với biến số đầu tiên, biến số X – để từ đó những bài toán, những phương trình đều được xoay quanh X, tìm ra X là gì dưới những điều kiện của Q, của Y, của B…

“Phố Ngũ hương” mang nhiều yếu tố về “tâm lý tính dục”. Ngay mở đầu truyện, tác giả đã viết “cô X có quan hệ mập mờ lén lút với anh Q”. Cô X là người đến sau ở “Phố Ngũ hương”, gia đình cô chuyển đến đó theo hướng 1 gia đình kiểu mẫu: 1 vợ - 1 chồng và 1 con trai. Cô X hiện lên trong “Phố Ngũ hương” là người phụ nữ không rõ tuổi tác, không rõ trẻ hay già, xinh hay xấu, bị ám ảnh bởi những hiếc gương và kính hiển vi. Anh Q – người bị ám ảnh bởi cô X – đến độ bỏ bê gia đình, bỏ bê cả những người phụ nữ sẵn sàng lao vào anh chỉ để 1 lòng 1 dạ với cô X. Nhưng từ đầu đến cuối, dù nỗ lực đến mấy, dân phố Ngũ hương không hề bắt được tại trận việc cô X và anh Q ngoại tình. Thay vào đó, việc họ soi mói đời sống của cô X làm lộ ra những bí mật về Phố Ngũ hương, những con người có tâm lý tính dục méo mó, đặc biệt là tâm lý ghen ghét ở những người phụ nữ với nhau. “…ghen ghét là cảm xúc không nên có nhất, cũng là biểu hiện của sự bất tài”. Qua những đoạn kể của những người phụ nữ ghen ghét với cô X, tác giả bày ra cho người đọc thấy rõ những con người vì mải ganh ghét, so đo mà biến chất, tự biến mình vào cái dục vọng để đọ bì với người ta.

Cô X của “Phố Ngũ hương” là đại diện của chủ nghĩ cá nhân, của chủ nghĩa khắc kỷ. Tôi nghĩ nàng không yêu ai (mà thực ra trong truyện cũng thể hiện rõ điều này). Nàng không quan tâm đến ánh nhìn người khác, nàng chỉ quan tâm đến cảm nhận của nàng. Nàng đến với Q vì nàng thấy điều đó là điều cần thiết cho nàng. Cái bất biến của nàng càng ngày càng giống như một tôn giáo và tác động đến toàn thể dân phố Ngũ hương, cho dù đấy là những gã đàn ông tôn sùng nàng – hay những mụ đàn bà ghen ghét với nàng.

“Phố Ngũ hương” theo tôi nghĩ còn là tiếng nói của một thế hệ, tiếng nói của những con người vượt qua những định kiến của thời kỳ quá độ để chứng minh rằng bất kỳ người nào, đặc biệt là người phụ nữ đều có thể vươn lên để thay đổi những thứ cổ cựu. Cô X đến và khiến cho cả thiên hạ được chiêm ngưỡng con phố mà những con người ở đó đã luôn sống trong một tư duy cũ kỹ, lỗi thời. Những gì ngoài tầm hiểu biết của họ đều được định cho 1 cái giá của sự biến chất. Họ tự cho mình cái quyền dìm 1 con người xuống – và nâng chính con người ấy lên. Họ tự hỉ hả cho rằng mình là vạn quyền năng, mà không hề biết cô X chưa bao giờ để tâm đến việc đó. Chính những hành động của cô X – càng về cuối truyện – càng cho thấy không phải số đông luôn là chân lý.

Các triển khai trong “Phố Ngũ hương” thực ra không hề dễ hiểu chút nào. Có những đoạn còn mang đầy hơi hướm của ảo ảnh, khiến tôi tưởng rằng các nhân vật trong đó chơi thuốc tập thể. Có những đoạn còn khiến tôi nhớ đến tính chất kinh dị của Junji Ito trong Vòng xoáy chôn ốc. Mạch truyện ở Phố Ngũ hương cũng thuộc dạng truyện lồng truyện, hoặc đang hiện tại thì nhảy về quá khứ rồi lại suy tưởng trong suy tưởng nên người đọc bắt buộc phải tập trung. Chưa kể tình tiết truyện không thiếu những đoạn như các nhân vật bay từ chỗ này sang chỗ khác hoặc thờ cúng tâm linh, cũng kha khá giống như “Truyện hư cấu” của Borges. “Phố Ngũ hương” có nhiều câu nói mang tính phê phán chế độ, ấy nên tác phẩm này theo tôi thấy dịch và đọc – hiểu nó cũng đã không dễ chứ đừng cảm với thấu được 1 phần của nó. Thế nhưng, tôi vẫn thấy đây là cuốn gây ấn tượng mạnh, có lẽ bởi chính những ẩn dấu về thời cuộc ở dưới những câu từ về tính dục càng làm sự tác động của nó đến người đọc lại “bigbang” hơn. Tôi thích những thứ đi ngược thời đại, những thứ mà có thể nói thẳng là “ném đá vào chế độ”. Mặc dù Tàn Tuyết viết “Phố Ngũ hương” với quá nhiều hình ảnh của tình dục – thứ mà tôi không thích khi đọc sách – nhưng những thứ phía dưới, những thứ nằm ở 7 phần chìm về việc tẩy chay một cá thể, về số đông luôn đúng, về việc nâng lên – hạ xuống nhân cách của một con người khiến tôi phải trăn trở.

Tôi luôn nghĩ rằng, 1 tác phẩm hay là tác phẩm khiến ta phải nhớ đến nhiều tác phẩm khác. “Phố Ngũ hương” với tôi – cũng là một tác phẩm như thế. Và vị vậy, nó hay. Nhưng tôi cũng không khuyến khích hay nghĩ đây là cuốn sách phải đọc. Chỉ là, tôi rất muốn được tâm tình về cuốn sách này với những người đã đọc nó, để được khai mở thêm nhiều về những ẩn giấu của nó.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mocked every single soul on the entire human planet. But I prefer imbuing such a farce with at least the beauty of Chinese language (unless she also intend to mock the linguistic tool mastered by her?), when the subject matter is more boring than absurd.
The narration was not so much a put-off that I can admire or rather endured this avant-garde style defying the (literary) world, (civilized) society, and (intellectual) mind.

[Liz Mackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarity, surreality, and an irresistible femme fatale combine forces against a humdrum little town, in this masterpiece from one of China’s most interesting writers--and probably its funniest. Not only a banquet of pure imagination, Five Spice Street offers a vision of what contemporary women’s writing can look like.

[Roland Hassel · Rating 3 out of 5]

En Kafkaesk labyrint kring en kinesisk gata, men istället för strukturer och byråkrati människors vanföreställningar, brist på självinsikt och oförmågan att förstå den andre; skvaller, fördom, projicering. Också likt Kafka; frustrerande tjatig, omständig och enbart sällan smårolig.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

It might have been a good book, I just couldn't get into it. Didn't care about Madame X after a while.

[Christina]

"She couldn't talk about that thing out loud, for if she did, it would no longer exist."

[Sammie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sách trừu tượng quá, cảm giác mình chưa đủ trình độ thẩm thấu

[Nguyen Nhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quyển văn học xã hội Trung Quốc

Cảm nhận cá nhân:
- Đây là một quyển sách hay của Tàn Tuyết trong việc mô tả rõ nét tâm lý nhân vật tại Phố ngũ hương, những người hàng xóm được tác giả miêu tả bằng vốn từ bay lượn phong phú, giúp người đọc nhận thấy rõ nét được tính cách của từng người một, dù không cần phải biết tên.
- Cách sử dụng ngôn từ của tác giả rất hào nhoáng và đa dạng, ẩn chứa trong từng câu từ mà tác giả mô tả luôn luôn tồn tại rất nhiều ngụ ý, tốt có, xấu có, châm biếm có. Tuy nhiên, cách sử dụng này lại khiến cho người đọc không thấy phiến diện hoặc khó chịu, ngược lại, còn làm cho câu chuyện thêm phần khôi hài.

Nội dung truyện: (có spoil)
Như vậy, tác giả cứ mở đầu câu chuyện bằng cách xây dựng một bối cảnh đầy sự tò mò, rằng cô X là ai? tại sao lại khiến cho dân phố ngũ hương căm ghét? mà căm ghét cũng không đúng, họ chỉ là những người khó tiếp nhận cái mới, hoặc xã hội đương thời quá bảo thủ nên được phản ánh qua chính câu chuyện này.
Một khu phố mắc một căn bệnh mãn tính, về tâm lý và cả cách nhìn nhận.

”Một buổi xế chiều oi ả, ăn cơm xong, nhà nào nhà nấy đều ra ngồi vệ đường hóng mát. Chảng mấy chốc, mọi người trông thấy “hai luồng sáng trắng nhoáng lên”, một to một nhỏ, hệt như sao băng, tới trước mặt rồi họ mới ngỡ ngàng nhận ra cô X vận váy lụa trắng “toàn thân sáng rực”, còn bộ đồ trắng trên mình thằng bé con thì “chẳng biết là chất liệu gì”. Tới khi bừng tỉnh, tất cả mới xôn xao lên.”
- Những người đàn ông ưa cô X, những người phụ nữ thì cay đắng, xuyên tạc. Phải chăng cô X có ngoại hình đẹp đẽ, nội tâm mạnh mẽ, nên được con trai và chồng yêu quý hết mực. Hơn nữa, tại Xã hội đương thời, giữa cuộc cách mạng văn hóa, cô còn được miêu tả như một người diễn thuyết giỏi, khiến người khác tin tưởng, và dám nói lên ý nghĩ của mình. Hoàn toàn khác với những người phụ nữ khác, và dân phố ngũ hương - nơi chuyên tổ chức các cuộc họp với nội dung không đâu vào đâu cả.
Ví dụ như mỗi lần họp, người dân chỉ dựa vào suy diễn của mình mà đưa ra ý kiến, rồi được tổng hợp lại trông như chuyện nghiệp lắm.
”Sau khi sàng lọc ấn tượng của năm người này rồi tổng kết lại, chúng tôi cũng chỉ thu được một ấn tượng mơ hồ và đầy mâu thuẫn: Q là một người cao lớn, trông hoặc xấu hoặc đẹp, hoặc chẳng có đặc điểm gì, mặt chữ điền chè bè, vẻ mặt hơi quái gở, hơi giống cá nheo.”.

Và thế là họ cứ suy đoán như vậy, lối viết này thật sự khiến người đọc lộn vèo, nhưng lại có điểm rất hay, đó là nó lại khiến chúng ta bất giác trở thành người dân Phố ngũ hương mất rồi… Vì chúng ta không thể dừng suy đoán, không thể dừng tạo ra câu chuyện của cô X, chồng cô, cuộc sống và tính cách của cô, và vì chúng ta rất muốn biết, cô ấy tốt không nhỉ? Khi có lời đồn đại cô ấy ngoại tình, dù không có chứng cứ nhưng … ngoại tình là cái chắc. Cuối cùng, chuyện hôn nhân của cô X và chồng đổ vỡ, cô X trở thành đại biểu của Phố Ngũ Hương (một kết quả bầu cử không tưởng), khi được “người viết” phỏng vấn, tác giả đã miêu tả trạng thái của cô lúc bấy giờ: “tâm nguyện lớn nhất đời cô là được mọi người xung quanh “quên lãng”, hoặc không cảm nhận được sự tồn tại của mình, như thế cô sẽ thấy thoải mái nhất. Qua nhiều năm quan sát, cô dần hiểu ra một chuyện: bản thân cô không giống với mọi người, không phải là một con người như những người khác, mà chỉ là hiện thân của một nguyện vọng chủ quan, vì nguyện vọng này vĩnh viễn không thể thực hiện nên mới làm lòng người rối loạn.”

Chính câu nói này dường như đã để lại nghi vấn trong long độc giả, rằng phải chăng lối suy nghĩ chung thời bấy giờ quá đặt nặng việc “theo số đông”, luôn áp đặt những tiêu chuẩn để khiến người mới phải hòa hợp, kể cả đó không phải điều họ muốn…

[Eddie Cai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be literally insane. Can Xue's writing style and way of constructing a narrative is so subtle and yet bonkers at the same time. You're following a chapter and then you suddenly perceive how weird things are getting, and it's really not clear how you arrived into such a space.

For some reason I kept thinking about Absalom, Absalom! as i read this, perhaps because both are kind of presentations of gossip, and getting into the weeds regarding the psychology of those partaking in this strange human activity. There's a healthy mix of testimony, fantasy, projection, and insanity in this book. Similarly, I think politically minded people would get a kick out of this book, as it kind of describes a society's slow descent into some fairly right-winged stances, mixed with legitimate insanity, of course. Lots of commentary on feminism and sexual liberation as well, which makes me more curious about China's cultural stance on these matters, recent-past plus present.

I wouldn't recommend this book to others, though, unless I knew what their reading habits were like. If you're not into books that push the envelope with respect to form and narrative structure then I highly doubt that this is the book to read.

I will say though that I think Can Xue shines a bit brighter in the short story format. I really loved Vertical Motion, and I think the shortened space allows for more of her flair to come through without it dragging on at all--something I felt at certain points of Five Spice Street.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you live in one place long enough you will eventually get to know the people that live on your street although there always seems to be that one person who is treated as an oddity. Eventually you all convene at some event yet that one person must not like big social gatherings since they didn’t bother showing up. So after some small chit chat you all start speculating about this person. It is simple at first, mainly who is this person. yet as time goes on because you forgot to make your coffee/tea you have started to dose off, eventually falling sleep. You do wake up eventually, amazed that the conversation is still going only now the first thing you hear was about how one of them broke into another’s house which is followed by laughter. The fuck, you feel as though you missed the context. Your dreary self is still gaining its composure so you stare out behind you only to realise everything has been jumbled up and doesn’t look right. At that point you think fuck it and continue listening to your neighbours although they’re now talking all this weird stuff they’ve done, do people do stuff like that? Might as well just relax and listen, it seems like the best option and just let the weirdness unfold.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mysterious Madam X! How old is she really? This avant-garde novel is stitched together from the collective consciousness of the residents of Five Spice Street and their suppositions about Madam X. What is she up to? What could she be doing at night with all those mirrors? Are there occult practices at work or is she just playing mind games? I was greatly impressed with Xue's ability to make me feel like a village gossip.

As the villagers of Five Spice Street investigate the doings of Madam X, the reveal more about themselves, and call into question their own ideas about gender relations, sex, and politics.

Xue's style is decidedly eccentric. As her narrator explains in the book itself, "We couldn't objectively narrate this in a routine way: Traditional styles wouldn't work; we had to innovate."

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

illogical, nonsensical, addictive, gradually it dawns on you that you're living through the cultural revolution - not the fear of the indrvidual, or the persecution of the minority rich or urban professional, as we often read about, but the groupthink, the crowd's logic, the bewildering currents of official truth, unpredictable, torrential, illogical, extreme, dogmatic
You will either love it or not be able to bear it and the style starts as it goes on, so try first but don't assume you won't find it gripping

[Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't get it. Might try again at some point when I want to be illuminated about Chinese gossiping culture or whatever this book is about. As with other experimental works, there is a balance of experimentalism and readability which determines if one can finish the book or ends up putting it away and feeling intellectually inferior. For me, the latter applied to Can Xue's work. I am sure that this book contains tremendous insight into some aspects of Chinese culture, but I would only recommend reading the book if you already have a deep understanding of China and its people.

[Moira Downey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I clearly missed the majority of this, and it's hard to say whether this was because something was lost in the prose translation or the cultural translation (or a mix of both!). There are hints of a Lynch-ian exploration into the uncanny underside of society and the polite collective, but there's also just not very much that...happens (which, come to think of it, is its own Lynch-ian tactic)? It's a lot of words that describe nothing happening, though.