Liu Tongyi was a Chinese novelist, essayist, poet and literary critic who writes under the pseudonym Liu Yichang (劉以鬯). He did not grow up in Hong Kong but spent the first thirty years of his life either there or in the wartime capital Chungking, where he went upon graduating from the English-speaking St John's University in 1941. It was in Chungking that he took up the profession of newspaper editing which he practised more or less continuously until his retirement in 1991. Liu came to Hong Kong in 1948, and apart from a spell in Singapore and Malaya (1952-1957), has made it his home.
[Español] Liu Tongyi (chino mandarín) o Lau Tung-yik (chino cantonés), nacido en Shanghai el 7 de diciembre de 1918, es un escritor chino, autor de novelas, cuentos, poesía y crítica literaria, firma con el seudónimo Liu Yichang (chino mandarín) o Lau Yee-cheung (chino cantonés). Una de sus más notables novelas de monólogo interior: Intersección (對倒) inspiró Deseando amar de Wong Kar-wai.
The storyline of this book and the author's technique would both be considered fresh even today, in my humble opinion. And the depth of his knowledge in both Chinese and Western literature and writing techniques is likewise impressive. This book definitely made many contemporary Chinese literary works boring
In reading 村上春樹, one can smell his tasty pasta, hear the jazz and opera, experience the tranquility and self-sufficiency of living. In reading the book , I smell alcohol, hear the people yelling, experience the desperateness of life of a scholar in 50s in Hong Kong.
I wonder if their life has changed since 50s. The shift is from writing Kung Fu fiction to making Kung Fu films, from writing erotic stories to making pornography, from writing for newspaper to making for different new media and film. It is so sad to read about the falling of angels. I think he does a good job in telling about the fall of an angel.
The book shall be read like a poem. The prose are beautiful.
Such a sad story, yet beautifully written. It's a total immersion into the world of an alcoholic pathetic writer life. It's a book that leaves u feelings that is hard to shake off
My friend recommended this book to me, saying it was a great example of “stream of consciousness.” I have to confess, I didn’t quite understand what the author was talking about in the first two or three chapters. At times I felt like I had stepped into the mind of someone with ADHD — the topics seemed to jump and fly around. It wasn’t that it was hard to follow, but rather that I was amazed by the whimsical flow of words and ideas.
What struck me most was the tragedy of seeing someone so passionate about serious literature unable to find a place in Hong Kong, during a time when the general public couldn’t appreciate true art, and instead preferred more superficial works meant only to entertain.
The novel’s length also gave the author space to portray a wide range of people and situations, offering a holistic view of society through the eyes of those trapped in difficult circumstances. For me, this made The Drunkard a deeply thought-provoking work — one that made me reflect on the relationship between society and the individual, and on how people are forced to adapt, sometimes in ways far from ideal.
It’s an immaculate capture of Hong Kong society and its materialism, partially in sacrifice of pursuit of high arts and literature. But I personally feel the story is too manipulative, maybe bound by narrator’s class (and irresponsibility), I cannot find any beauty of decaying in narrator’s debauchery. And sentiment of the novel is different from “Notes from Underground” too. I surely don’t want to condemn a fictional character’s life choices as I’ve been feeling a good reader should exhibit an open-attitude when reading fictional works. However, if I briefly summarise the story, it should be how an immature man keeps creating burdens for others while using literature and aesthetics as an excuse. And now you can see why I don’t like this work. Earlier this year, I also read Tanizaki’s “Sorrows of a Heretics”, and I’ll be shocked if found anyone feeling relatable to the character. I believe for some works we are unable to see our reflections but through the character and the text, we may find a world that we haven’t entered before or a social problem we’ve never carefully considered.
A self-destructive drunkard dreams; lamenting the descent of society’s artistic values, akin to watching a chrysanthemum slowly drowning in a teacup of perfume at a noir jazz bar, where red neon lights flicker through a haze of cigarette smoke.
“Another day goes by. I’m drunk. Hungry eyes searching for lost joy. Deep night. The boy’s fast asleep somewhere in the dark. Wanderers enter the pitch-black jungle. The air solidifies. Thoughts a mere straw. Suddenly yesterday’s storms, fading cicada songs, are all forgotten. Nothing but a witch climbing a ladder to heaven, desire planning a moon landing. Two lonely travellers, on a rainy night, meet in a roadside pavilion, end up playing chess. A shadow stretches across a stone with no name. The stone sweats. Springtime hides in a corner of the wall, listening to feet tapping on the clouds … I’m drunk.”
Such a dreamlike reading experience! It’s hard to believe that such an innovative style of expression comes from a work written over sixty years ago! The descriptions of drunkenness are both tragic and beautiful, and I feel a deep sense of pity for the protagonist’s circumstances. It's sad to think that the story is still relevant in today’s Hong Kong.
The whole novel is interwoven in the drunkard’s reality, dreams, daily thought, fantasy thought and his sub-consciousness. Therefore, even though the story line is simple, the narration is not easy to follow. Because the state of mind of the drunkard changes in almost every chapter. But this is the fun part of reading this novel!
A maudlin novelist in seedy mid-century Hong Kong longs to write literary fiction but churns out kung-fu stories and smut for cash. One drink. Another. Three.
one of the best experimental and 'chinese' stream-of-consciousness works i've ever read, a philosophical discussion etched in the despondent man's battle with reality and isolation, see his cognitive abilities literally deteriorate as he sinks deeper into alcoholism...
been in a reading slump(english language books) for too long. think that i should include Chinese books i've read as well. so HERE we go. This one i read it on my way to Korea, a fantastic read for alcoholic, aka me.