Bird Talk and Other Stories by Xu Xu: Modern Tales of a Chinese Romantic

by Xu Xu, 徐訏, Frederik H. Green (Translator & Commentary)

Xu Xu (1908-1980) was one of the most widely read Chinese authors of the 1930s to 1960s. His popular urban gothic tales, his exotic spy fiction, and his quasi-existentialist love stories full of nostalgia and melancholy offer today’s readers an unusual glimpse into China’s turbulent twentieth century.

These translations--spanning a period of some thirty years, from 1937 until 1965--bring to life some of Xu Xu’s most representative short fictions from prewar Shanghai and postwar Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The Afterword illustrates that Xu Xu’s idealistic tendencies in defiance of the politicization of art exemplify his affinity with European romanticism and link his work to a global literary modernity.

Genres: China, Short Stories

240 pages, Paperback

Published May 26, 2020

About the author

Xu Xu (Chinese name: 徐訏) was one of the most widely read Chinese authors of the 1930s to 1960s. His popular urban gothic tales, his exotic spy fiction, and his quasi-existentialist love stories full of nostalgia and melancholy offer today’s readers an unusual glimpse into China’s turbulent twentieth century.

Reviews

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an enchanting and poetic read, beautifully translated and full of a flowing language.

[John Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five short stories by Chinese writer Xu Xu (1908-1980) written at various times over his long life. Most are interesting for one reason or another but the title story Bird Talk is truly memorable and worth getting the book just to read.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Xu Xu 徐訏 was a celebrated romantic writer whose nostalgic style for pre-revolutionary China catapulted him to fame in Taiwan and Hong Kong; before the war, he bucked the trend of modernist writers by eschewing the revolutionary call to transform China through fiction and explored the emotional and spiritual lives of his characters out of place in modern life.

These five short stories showcase Xu’s writing from both his pre-war romantic œuvre and his later more-nostalgic fiction as he settled into exile in Hong Kong, never to return to the romantic ghost-haunted French concession of his earlier days. “Bird Talk” and “All-Souls Tree” are the two standout stories here because of how excellently they demonstrate Xu’s ability to combine nostalgia, romance (in the Hessian sense), and a hint of the supernatural.

A critical essay on Xu’s transnational romanticism concludes the collection and situates him in a tradition shared with Eileen Chang and Mu Shying, writing not about the need to transform modern China but how modern man is adrift emotionally in society.

[Georgia Zarkadaki]

Δεν πρόκειται να το τελειώσω ποτέ, δεν ξέρω γιατί το έχω αφήσει όμως. Πάντως, όσες ιστορίες διάβασα ήταν συμπαθητικές. Τίποτα το ιδιαίτερο αλλά μου αρέσει το ύφος της γραφής.