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时代三部曲 #3
青铜时代
This book includes the full-length novel Bronze Age of the author. It inserts reality in the history. Chang An in the Tang dynasty is the important background of the novel. It tells about the famous general of Tang dynasty Li Jing, Hong xiannv, modern guy Wang Er and Wang Xianke who went to Chang An from another province to seek his cousin.本书收录了作者的长篇小说《青铜时代》，小说在历史中穿插了现实，唐代长安是小说的重要背景，唐代名将李靖和红线女、现代人王二、从外地到长安寻找表妹的王仙客使小说显出独特的风味。
299 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1997
20 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Wang Xiaobo
104 books157 followersWang Xiaobo (Chinese: 王小波) was a Chinese writer who became famous after his death.
Wang Xiaobo on paper-republic.org.
Wang was born in an intellectual family in Beijing in 1952. He was sent to a farm in Yunnan province as an "intellectual youth" at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1968. In 1971, he was sent to the countryside of Shandong province, and became a teacher. In 1972, he was allowed to return to Beijing, and he got a job as a working in a local factory. He met Li Yinhe in 1977, who was working as an editor for "Guangming Daily", and she later became his wife. He was accepted by Renmin University of China in 1978 where he studied economics and trade and got his Bachelor's Degree. He received his Master's Degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988. After he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University and Renmin University of China. He quit his job as a college lecturer in 1992, and became a freelance writer. On April 11, 1997 he died suddenly of heart disease at his apartment.
Wang Xiaobo on paper-republic.org.
Wang was born in an intellectual family in Beijing in 1952. He was sent to a farm in Yunnan province as an "intellectual youth" at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1968. In 1971, he was sent to the countryside of Shandong province, and became a teacher. In 1972, he was allowed to return to Beijing, and he got a job as a working in a local factory. He met Li Yinhe in 1977, who was working as an editor for "Guangming Daily", and she later became his wife. He was accepted by Renmin University of China in 1978 where he studied economics and trade and got his Bachelor's Degree. He received his Master's Degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988. After he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University and Renmin University of China. He quit his job as a college lecturer in 1992, and became a freelance writer. On April 11, 1997 he died suddenly of heart disease at his apartment.
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January 2, 2022
Wang Xiaobo's books are very highly rated. In his series of novels that reflects the political situations, including the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, he depicts different contexts of history, ancient, 1900s, future, but makes a call that authoritarianism will cause all kinds of harms to society. In this book, he composes three stories in the context of ancient China.
1) In the preface and the story, the escape of Lady Hongfu 红拂夜奔, my main takeaway is that due to the political pressure, talents
- are not cultivated enough to do more creative things, and their mindsets get interfered with other ideology that they are forced to pick up
- cannot write what they want, and their publications cannot be rewarded or spread
- do not have the time because they are forced to do other things.
In terms of good thought exercise, I really like how sad but real this story is. It forms a sharp contrast between the story of Leonardo da Vinci [My Review] and the story of the General Li Jing who has no way to go when he was a creative scientist, due to the political system. It also reminds me of the points Xiaobo makes in The Silent Majority (沉默的大多数) about the suppressed intellectuals (with literally no way to do science, art, or even honestly voice out their opinion) in China from 1949.
Some tips:
- Due to political pressure, many of the best writers are doing translation. So read the translated literature to see their writing, e.g., 王道乾, 查良铮, and do not fully follow what is famous because the reward system is inverse.
2) The other story, the Longevity Template (万寿寺), is more of an artistic play of story. It brings the reader to a journey of a story inside a story inside a story, with many possible branches explored with a depth-first search. The many possible developments and ends of the story also feel like many parallel worlds. It conveys to me a beauty similar to that of the movies Inception, and Memento. It is a beauty that is almost a visual art, or, more precisely, the beauty of geometry.
3) The final story, Searching for my fiancé whose name is the Incomparable (寻找无双), is a bit too complicated. There are some deeply hidden metaphors, and the inspiration to real world things is not very easy to grasp. But still great work!
-----
Below is a poem made for Xiaobo's death:
今天早晨，我为自己
冲了一杯浓浓的咖啡
破天荒地没有加糖
似乎我早有正确的预感
为小波的死准备了悼词
面对你信中的悼亡诗
我满口苦涩
我怀疑自己的眼睛
看到的
是我熟悉的字迹
还是一座陌生的坟墓
1) In the preface and the story, the escape of Lady Hongfu 红拂夜奔, my main takeaway is that due to the political pressure, talents
- are not cultivated enough to do more creative things, and their mindsets get interfered with other ideology that they are forced to pick up
- cannot write what they want, and their publications cannot be rewarded or spread
- do not have the time because they are forced to do other things.
In terms of good thought exercise, I really like how sad but real this story is. It forms a sharp contrast between the story of Leonardo da Vinci [My Review] and the story of the General Li Jing who has no way to go when he was a creative scientist, due to the political system. It also reminds me of the points Xiaobo makes in The Silent Majority (沉默的大多数) about the suppressed intellectuals (with literally no way to do science, art, or even honestly voice out their opinion) in China from 1949.
Some tips:
- Due to political pressure, many of the best writers are doing translation. So read the translated literature to see their writing, e.g., 王道乾, 查良铮, and do not fully follow what is famous because the reward system is inverse.
2) The other story, the Longevity Template (万寿寺), is more of an artistic play of story. It brings the reader to a journey of a story inside a story inside a story, with many possible branches explored with a depth-first search. The many possible developments and ends of the story also feel like many parallel worlds. It conveys to me a beauty similar to that of the movies Inception, and Memento. It is a beauty that is almost a visual art, or, more precisely, the beauty of geometry.
3) The final story, Searching for my fiancé whose name is the Incomparable (寻找无双), is a bit too complicated. There are some deeply hidden metaphors, and the inspiration to real world things is not very easy to grasp. But still great work!
-----
Below is a poem made for Xiaobo's death:
今天早晨，我为自己
冲了一杯浓浓的咖啡
破天荒地没有加糖
似乎我早有正确的预感
为小波的死准备了悼词
面对你信中的悼亡诗
我满口苦涩
我怀疑自己的眼睛
看到的
是我熟悉的字迹
还是一座陌生的坟墓
Displaying 1 of 1 review