Quatre femmes

by Wang Shu Hui

L'oeuvre de la seule et unique dessinatrice, dans les années 30, de bande dessinée chinoise Wang Shuhui, dont les parents lui avaient confisqué les chaussures, rasé les cheveux et enfermé dans une chambre pour apprendre la broderie au lieu du dessin, est exceptionnelle, rare et d'une puissante beauté plastique. Ce recueil de quatre destins de femmes chinoises, des grands classiques de la Chine ancienne, à l'instar de nos Roméo et Juliette et autres Dame au camélia, reflètent à la fois l'originalité de l'artiste dans le choix d'aborder un certain féminisme à la chinoise, et d'illustrer les plus sensuelles et délicates histoires d'amour tout en soulignant leur force et leur engagement philosophique, social, voire politique.

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this in Paris on our last day and I'm SO glad I did. The book had a wonderful biography of the artist, Wang Shu Hui at the beginning. She was the only woman artist to draw the lianhuanhua (Chinese comics/illustrated stories) in the mid 20th century. I didn't realise that they had a woman artist and reading the biography was fascinating and made me want to learn more about her. The book also had four of her lianhuanhua collected together. The book was about twice the size of the original comics and as such the illustrations were much bigger and clearer and gave a real appreciation of the art.

The four stories involved a young married couple, where the mother in law hated her daughter in law, the Butterfly lovers, the Women warriors of the Yang family, and the Western Pavilion. I'd read Chinese versions of two of the stories but I'd not come across the Yang family story before. It was brilliant! The Yangs were a military family, the father was killed and the women, and the young son were able to defeat the enemy that killed him, on behalf of the Song dynasty. Not only were the women leading the army, and incredibly good fighters (especially seventh sister) but the Old Matriarch of the family was a brilliant strategist in the art of war. (one of my favourite pictures in the book was her sitting up late at night with her map and her books) I am definitely going to have to search for more versions of this story, especially in Chinese.

[Anaïs · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ces héroïnes ont des traits communs. Elles veulent être maîtresses d'un destin dont les rênes leur sont confisquées. Elles agissent selon l'élan du cœur et se révoltent avec les outils dont elles disposent : les larmes, parfois les armes mais surtout la mort. Car la mort, dans la culture orientale, est l'expression de l'indignation, de la révolte et l'ultime solution qui appartient aux faibles et aux démunis. [...] histoire qui se termine dans la célébration du deuxième sexe et dans la joie de la victoire. "

[Usman Aman · Rating 4 out of 5]

While shopping at Foyles in London on a recent trip I found the English translation 4 woman. An excellent read. It is a collection of four folk tales. A cultural insight weaved along fairytales