Das Buch Eines Einsamen Menschen

by Gao Xingjian, Natascha Vittinghoff (Übersetzer)

Rare Book

Genres: Fiction, China, Nobel Prize, Historical Fiction, Literature, Chinese Literature, Asia

Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Gao Xingjian is a Chinese-born novelist, playwright, critic, and painter. An émigré to France since 1987, Gao was granted French citizenship in 1997. The recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature, he is also a noted translator (particularly of Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco), screenwriter, stage director, and a celebrated painter.

Reviews

[Samadrita · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I sit at my desk typing this out, there's a man thousands of miles away locked up somewhere in the darkest recesses of China's prison system, silently keeping tabs on the days that morph into months and the months that morph into years. His name is Liu Xiaobo and it has been 4 years since he has ceased to be a free man, sentenced to an 11-year term because he dared to have an opinion of his own.
And while reading this harrowing autobiographical novel, my thoughts were with Liu and the other anonymous activists who are either biding their time as political prisoners or quietly carrying on with their peaceful agitation against the brute force of the state.

Before a Mo Yan there was a Gao Xingjian, the first man of Chinese origin to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. But being a French citizen, his Nobel win went virtually unnoticed in China. The Chinese Premier at the time had only casually congratulated not him but the ability of Chinese literature to appeal to the sensibilities of readers of the world only when asked in an interview about it.

One Man's Bible, Gao's most noted work of fiction besides Soul Mountain, resonates with so much repressed grief and bitterness that it becomes difficult to accompany the narrator on his solemn promenade down memory lane, especially since this memory lane, strewn with the wreckage of a past life, only evokes horror of the most potent kind. The stark horror of your idea of home being replaced by the idea of a prison, a dark and suffocating one limiting your movements and your field of vision, of being deprived of your free will, of being forced to burn the fruits of your hard work to escape persecution, of having to helplessly witness the complete annihilation of your family.

This fictionalized memoir is Gao's attempt at purging himself of all the horrific happenings he witnessed after Mao came to power and making peace with the monster that lurks somewhere at the back of his mind. The monster of his past. The book chronicles the darkest years of his experiences with the onset of the Cultural Revolution and his eventual flight to France in search of the liberties he was denied at home.
But in addition to being deeply cathartic, this is also a homage to the resilience of the human spirit and its capacity to resist the forces of political oppression.

The narrative contains some truly hair-raising descriptions of the reign of terror carried out by the Red Guards (the paramilitary youth brigade who were given the right to freely suppress the slightest hint of criticism with ruthless violence). Some of their forcefully instituted rules were so ridiculous that they would have been almost funny had they not brought such disastrous consequences upon millions of unsuspecting, innocent citizens.
For instance:-

"...as two of his articles had been published, in English, in an international students' mathematics journal just before that anticulture Cultural Revolution broke out, he was sent for eight years to herd cattle on a farm."

Gao continuously refers to his past self in the third person, in an effort to distance himself from the the land of his birth and the youthful idealism which once spurred him on to oppose many of the nonsensical, unjust policies implemented by Mao's regime. Now he no longer plays a slave to his moral righteousness and merely seeks his salvation through art. Quite unconventionally, he uses the second person to refer to himself in the present almost giving the impression that his true self was lost somewhere in this transition from a young Chinese university student harboring literary passions to a disillusioned, faithless citizen of the world only seeking to live out the rest of his days in peace. He is neither here nor there, stuck in a no man's land with an ambiguous identity.

Gao's memories of China during the Cultural Revolution are interspersed with his present day experiences as an émigré in Paris and snippets of his career as a playwright and writer. At times it seems the terrible memories of his past have caused him to value only personal freedom and become indifferent to everything else - fame, recognition and even a national identity. He stresses repeatedly on how he doesn't believe in any fancy '-isms' anymore. Right and left leanings, ideologies have become hollow ideas to him which are eventually used to manipulate society into some form of servitude.

It is ironic that the man who has been the author of a generation's miseries has his face printed on the Yuan while the real China is being hidden and kept under wraps of a glossy identity of an emerging superpower.
I am sure there's a China unknown to the rest of the world, not the China of the numerous Olympic medals or the China represented by the robotically expressionless faces of the Communist Party members. Not the China of the formidable military capabilities, an expanding GDP and the significant strides in space science. But the China of the intellectuals, the China of the writers, the China of the historians who are at present clamoring to be given the right to critically analyze the glossed over aspects of Mao's rule for academic benefit, the China of the courageous dissidents demanding civil liberties and the China of the commoners, too scared to speak up.

"...there is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom." - Liu Xiaobo

Call me a fan of social justice or a staunch believer in the idea of redemption but I think the ghost of oppression will be exorcized and Mao's legacy will eventually be consigned to the annals of history devoted exclusively to recording the misdeeds of a handful of tyrants. The unknown, unheard of China will rise some day and Liu Xiaobo, Ai Weiwei, Chen Guangcheng, Gao Xingjian and the unnamed ones who were brave enough to raise their voice against the very outrageous denial of freedom of thought and expression, will find their rightful immortality.
Something tells me they already have.

[Daniel Chaikin]

55. One Man's Bible by Gao Xingjian
published: 1999
format: 450 page Hardcover
acquired: 2003 from a 75% Off Books (do they still exist?)
read: Dec 14-24
rating: 4

Another dusty book on the shelf, this one has been hanging around for some 14 years with my eye on it, but with my never having any clue what it contained. After reading a few pages, I looked up a few reviews and found some really critical, especially in comparison to Soul Mountain (which led to his Nobel prize). These negative reviews were a bit unfair but perfect for lowering my expectations and allowing me to really enjoy this.

It's a lightly fictionalized memoir of Gao's experiences in the Chinese Cultural Revolution (roughly 1966 to Mao's death in 1976). He mixes in a life as a Chinese exile in the present (1996-1998) obviously based on him, but likely heavily fictionalized, or he was quite the promiscuous one. He is, I imagine, playful with the truth in many ways.

His life in and memories of the Cultural Revolution are insane. It's not clear to me how political involved he was, but he experienced purges that flipflopped on themselves and purge the purgers. There was no right answer except to learn to mimic everyone around you with full emotional commitment. Anything that stood out brought suspicion, which brought a lot of suffering or worse. He says that it was almost easier to try to rebel than not to, since he craved independent thought and expression. Gao is an artist in different ways, visually, in play writing and as a novelist. The cover of the book is his own art work.

There is a sophistication to how the book is presented. First in how he mixes the present and past so that they are distinct but become a whole. Part of this distinction is in how his younger self is always described in third person, but his (fictional?) current self is addressed directly always as "you". Second is in how he strives to create atmosphere. A lot of this stuff is beyond words, he has to create the experience in the text to really express it, and he does this really well. And third is the pacing. There is weak narrative drive as the each section, each chapter generally closes a story, with some notable exceptions. But it paces nicely and continuously so that it becomes a really nice to book to get lost it, and pick up anytime. It comes apart at the end where he ties off the past and then spends a lot of time about his fictional present and all his love affairs. He tells how content he is, but the impression is the opposite as it all comes out empty, and I'm not sure that wasn't his intention.

All this together made for a really enjoyable reading experience and I think a fine book that leaves the reader with a lot to think about. A writer and artist's book. And it makes me really want to read Soul Mountain.

"You know you are certainly not the embodiment of truth, and you write simply to indicate that a sort of life, worse than a quagmire, more real than an imaginary hell, more terrifying than Judgement Day, has, in fact, existed."

Long review, but here’s the stuff I still want to mention:
-Rural Anhui
-The marriage
-The regional political leader
-reform through labor and the escape

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read quite a bit of Chinese and Chinese-American fiction involving Mao Tse-tung, but none has driven home the cruelties and absurdities of the Cultural Revolution better than Gao Xingjian's dreamlike narrative. His two conflicting personalities--one entrenched in Cultural Revolution intrigue and the other reflecting upon it years later--hash it out in the second- and third-person points of view. This novel showcases absolute power corrupting absolutely and unveils an era during which anything you said could--and would--be used against you.

[Aitor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal, escalofriante, pavoroso… y precisamente por todo eso, Imprescindible.
Una novela muy recomendable para empezar a hacernos una idea de lo que supuso la revolución cultural en China.
El único refugio posible: tu propia mente. Todo lo demás, horror.

[Vu K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cuốn này gồm những hồi tưởng của nhân vật về thời Cách mạng văn hóa, thường được biết đến ở Trung Quốc với cách gọi "Văn cách" (giống như Cải cách ruộng đất thì được gọi là "Thổ cải"), là một sự xáo trộn xã hội lớn lao kể từ sau chính sách không kể, phần sai lầm của thời kỳ trước là "Đại nhảy vọt", cả hai đều là sáng kiến của Mao. Đã từng đọc nhiều về CMVH, nhưng phần nhiều là dưới dạng tư liệu, tài liệu. Kinh thánh của một người cho thấy cảm nhận cá nhân, giúp người đọc hình dung rõ hơn về những gì diễn ra trong xã hội Trung Quốc thời "Văn cách" dưới sự cai trị của Mao, chỉ có thể tóm gọn bằng một câu: một xã hội quái gở. Không hiểu làm sao với "Đại nhảy vọt", rồi "Văn cách", gây ra cái chết của hàng chục triệu người, vì nạn đói do chính sách kinh tế hoang tưởng, vì sự điên rồ của "cách mạng" dẫn đến tố cáo, truy sát, hành hạ lẫn nhau, mà Mao ngày nay vẫn được nhân dân Trung Quốc suy tôn là lãnh tụ thiên tài "công 7, tội 3". May là "Văn cách" diễn ra từ 1966, Bắc Kinh đã ép Việt Nam cũng hưởng ứng, nhưng miền Bắc Việt Nam khi đó đang trong cao trào chống Mỹ nên từ chối theo gương của người bạn lớn phương Bắc, bằng không thì xã hội Việt Nam đã tan nát 10 năm trước đó với Cải cách ruộng đất một lần nữa lại bị đảo lộn thì không còn gì có thể phục hồi lại được.
Chủ nghĩa xã hội kiểu Trung Quốc theo Mao là một mô hình quái gở, chủ nghĩa xã hội kiểu Cambodge theo Pol Pot, một học trò cuồng tín của Mao, thì là sự chống lại loài người.
Đây là quyển đầu tiên của Gao Xingjian mà mình đọc, sẽ đọc tiếp Linh Sơn của cây bút Pháp gốc Trung Quốc này, tác gia đoạt giải Nobel.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

_ Pero ¿por qué razón un escritor no puede también ser pintor?
Le dices que ella no lo puede entender, aunque hable chino; lo que ocurre en China nunca se explica sólo con ayuda del idioma.

[Conrado · Rating 5 out of 5]

No planeo ni una suerte de análisis mayor de la obra, pero me siento en la obligación de hacer notar su calidad artística.
Gao Xingjian es un autor que me atrae a la vez que me presenta algunos serios problemas estéticos. Modernista de inspiración (sus dramas pertenecen al teatro del absurdo y es, a su vez, el traductor de Beckett al chino) esperaría ponerle fácilmente un par de etiquetas. Pero en cambio me encuentro con una visión —tal vez— más real de la vida, pero no una extrema que sólo vea negro y absurdos.
Rechazando a su vez la construcción sobre "nada", Gao crea aquí una novela realista en la que describe sus recuerdos en la china de Mao: una china en la que los hombres no deben pensar para poder sobrevivir y en los que son incapaces, por tanto, de generar una relación con otro... una china llena de hombres solos.
Para evitar un relato que parezca falso y/o superficial, usa acertadamente la técnica de jugar con la persona de la narración; un contrapunto entre un "tú" que vive en los tiempos "presentes" (el escritor en Francia) contra un "él" de los tiempos pasados. Con tal recurso genera un espectador de su propio actuar que no es omnisciente, pero que logra despegarse de su objeto. Además, la distancia temporal entre "esos personajes" permite también un desapego que lleva a reflexiones ora socio-políticas, ora estéticas.
El resultado es un libro sabio nacido no de teorías, sino de la experiencia y presenta —por tanto— dificultades exquisitas en su lectura, un libro donde el hombre, y el lenguaje juegan los papeles principales, mientras han de correr de toda ideología... y esa, es probable, es la gran diferencia que presenta Gao con cualquier modernista occidental y lo que le asegura su lugar y eterna vigencia.

[Samuel M.C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nuevamente, ¡es otra compra aleatoria que me salió de maravilla! Por 20 mil pesos colombianos en la feria del libro de Bogotá, en los puestos de rebaja, no esperaba hallar tal joya.

Si existe un ejemplo en el que la novela 1984 de Orwell se vuelva lo más cercana a la realidad o hasta superarla, es este libro. Aunque si es algo difícil de digerir por su estructura, digresiones y circularidad, el narrador en segunda persona es clave para dar tal efecto y Gao Xingjiang fue un experto al hacerlo, ya que la segunda persona es muy poco común y bastante difícil de trabajar.

Me impactó leer lo que es el día día de un chino y toda la presión que siente a diario. Tanto así que estas pobres personas dejan de tener emociones y no lloran porque el dolor es tan inmenso que los deja sin lágrimas.

Es un historia muy fuerte, pero aún así es muy necesaria hoy en día para reflexionar sobre el rumbo que tomará el mundo si el comunismo se sigue expandiendo.

Sin más que decir, un libro extraordinario y que merece mucho la pena.

[Pablo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me cuesta realizar una crítica de este libro. Es un relato muy personal, envuelto en momentos históricos muy importantes. Puedo destacar las grandes reflexiones que bordean lo filosófico y poético. Como también el realismo y crudeza al momento de relatar lo que fue y es la China comunista.

[Hubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morbidly gripping. Set during China's cultural revolution, the novel is touted as a "fictional autobiography." The narrator is highly removed from any sense of sentimentality, yet you, the reader, keep reading on. The term page-turner usually refers to some light plot-driven fluff, but here I was flipping pages as one can't avert his eyes from a train wreck.

Gao recreates a world full of neurosis, mistrust, and paranoia, describing interpersonal relationships that are doomed to fail (and never had a chance to begin with).At times his metaphors are right on: comparing a collective work place to a "beehive" and extending that metaphor throughout the novel. His treatment of women is annoying - at times dour, at times violent. The reader feels anaempathetic to the narrator, yet the reader keeps reading, almost morbidly.

Because the novel is fictional autobiography, you don't know if you're reading about the author, the narrator, if you're reading biography, what parts are extended or exaggerated, etc.

Nonetheless, highly recommended reading.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't say that I enjoyed this book but it did make me more aware of what it must be like to live under a totalitarian state. In Stasiland by Anna Funder Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, Funder is the narrator, an outsider viewing with shock, amusement, compassion or disbelief, but even an author as perceptive as she is cannot convey what it is like to be subject to the intellectual confusion it occasions.

Xingjian does. His narration seems first hand, written with a sense of immediacy through dialogue between Margarethe the German Jew and Xingjian's man who has fled the Cultural Revolution.

The lovers talk in the present, and they try to get each other to talk about the past. This dialogue is in the 3rd person, breaking into first person as the narrator reflects. It can be irritating, this constant use of 'You say' as the narrator reports what he's said to Margarethe, but after a while I realised that the effect is to show the gulf between what is said, even in intimate moments, and what is thought. A habit learned for self-preservation.

Chapters set in the past, in the Cultural Revolution, are written in a detached 3rd person voice. Here the impersonal observer describes events as Funder would - not as a participant but as a disapproving reporter of the absurdity of the regime.

What does it do to a fine mind to be subject to endless propaganda, slogans, re-education sessions and capricious reversals of dogma? Everyone lives in a socio-political world and needs to be able to comment on it somehow, but for a very intelligent person it is vital to their sense of self. To be put in very confined spaces and forced to participate in bizarre denouncements of counter-revolutionary thought would be torture. Xingian's protagonist craves living in a peasant village, just to have a little space.

I began to wonder if the reason the book is called 'One Man's Bible' is because it's a play on the way the Bible has permeated individual thought to become part of personal being. Even for non-religious people, the Christian Bible is the basis of most Western cultures because of its themes of individual choice and responsibility, forgiveness and compassion. Its stories (the Flood, the Tower of Babel etc) permeate literature; its symbols permeate art.

In the Cultural revolution, consciousness had to keep shifting to keep pace with the Leadership's pronouncements. So one had to try to maintain one's own intelligent perspective but risk sharing it with no one. Yet one also had to participate in the propagandising sufficiently well to be able to parrot the required statements and harass fellow-citizens enough to survive without becoming confused about what was required this particular week. Imagine having to put intellectual energy into that! How degrading!!

[Julio Cesar Chacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relata la historia de un escritor expatriado victima de la persecucion politica en la "revolucion cultural" de China.Incitado por Margarita(editora alemana victima de violacion a los 13)busca en los recovecos de su memoria memorias olvidadas y pasajes reprimidos de su historia en un intento por crear un vinculo sentimental independiente del acto sexual con una mujer.En su narrativa las motivaciones,razonmientos y sentimientos de los personajes quedan muy claras,son casi transparentes por lo cual es muy facil compenetrarse con los personajes y comprenderlos.Guarda muchos elementos comunes con 1984 de George Orwell,pero en esta version oriental tratamos con un pasado historico y no con una proyeccion futurista.Lidiando con el recuerdo de su propia cobardia y el analisis imparcial de sus actos narra su historia como si le hubiese pasado a otra persona(lo cual tiene algo de verdad).Con ricas descripciones sobre sus distintas personalidades en las diferentes epocas
(su juventud revolucionaria(y contrarrevolucionaria) en la guardia roja,el gran salto adelante(que dejo entre 1 y 10 millones de muertos),su incursion en la revolucion como dirigente de una faccion ideologica y su posterior persecucion politica a manos de sus excompañeros radicales).Retrata una sociedad de ratas y topos en la que la confianza es un lujo impermitible y por consiguiente el desarrollo humano se da de manera aislada(muchas veces en trayectoria torcida),la relacion con su padre y las mujeres en su vida,la profundida batalla para recuperarse a si mismo para volver a vivir despues de su "no vida" de represion.Aborda recurrentemente la situacion en la que las palabras estan ahi pero no fluyen y se termina perdiendo el momento y como solo se puede seguir adelante.
"Hoy escribes tranquilamente lo que quieres decirle a este emeprador que ha dominado a cientos de millones de personas.Como tu eres minusculo,el emperador que hay en ti solo puede dominar a una persona: a ti mismo.Actualmente,al pronunciar publicamente estas palabras,has salido de la sombra de Mao,pero no ha sido facil.Has nacido en un mal momento,precisamente en la epoca de su dominio,no en otra.Pero eso no depende de ti,es lo que se suele llamar<>".

[Pere · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un escritor chino, exiliado en París, reflexiona sobre su pasado en los años de la revolución cultural china. Un juicio en el que nada queda fuera y se expone con detalle la cruda realidad de un régimen denigratorio y brutal.

Una drama histórico novelado en el que se produce un intenso diálogo a tres niveles entre el “YO” protagonista escritor exiliado y liberado de su pasado que lo observa todo desde la distancia; Un “TÚ” protagonista intelectual, que no es otro que el “yo” que se auto interroga en un diálogo que busca dejar al descubierto hechos, pensamientos y contradicciones sobre el presente y su relación con el pasado. Un diálogo a medio camino entre el psicoanálisis y el interrogatorio sumarísimo. Finalmente, hay un tercer plano narrativo protagonizado por un “ÉL” protagonizado por el joven que intenta sobrevivir en medio de las circunstancias opresivas de la revolución cultural.

Esta estructura narrativa en base a tres protagonistas, que son en realidad la misma persona, resulta quizás el aspecto más atractivo y novedoso de la novela. A destacar también el estilo hiper realista con que Xingjiang nos ofrece una fotografía de los aspectos históricos y las circunstancias impresionadas en papel sensible de la memoria del escritor exiliado y la persona que fue en ese otro tiempo. El autor se limita a poner negro sobre blanco esos recuerdos y huye de interpretaciones.

El ritmo narrativo, abrumadoramente lento en muchos pasajes, dificulta la lectura pero contribuye a dar credibilidad a los hechos narrados así como a potenciar el aspecto brutal y opresivo de la situación que expresan. En la medida que las situaciones descritas se alejan del conflicto político, la narración se remansa y permite entrar en la psicología de los protagonistas.

Una obra difícil por la aridez de lo que cuenta pero interesante por la forma en que lo hace.

[Mircalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

l'uomo cinese è un uomo solo...

bellissima introspezione senza censure del pensiero di un uomo che, ovunque sia e con chiunque si accompagni, è sempre solo e lo sarà comunque...
è difficile spiegare a chi non è cinese cosa vuol dire vivere in Cina, forse solo un abitante dell'Unione sovietica sotto il terrore staliniano potrebbe capire
sono molti gli episodi che lui, l'uomo senza nome che narra la sua storia, racconta a Margarethe e tutti i suoi racconti vengono interrotti da una sola parola: perchè?
"perchè hai dovuto bruciare i tuoi quadri?"
"perchè il partito ha deciso che sono uno scrittore, non un pittore"
già perchè?


"Venite!! Davanti a noi ci sono i giorni felici!
La folla era in preda a una febbre, era completamente impazzita, e lui non poteva starne fuori, doveva quantomeno fingere.
- Va malissimo! Hanno aperto il fuoco!-
- Chi?-
-Davanti, no?-
-Stupidaggini! Davanti a noi ci sono i giorni felici! Come possono sparare?-
-Proiettili di plastica?-
-Fuochi artificiali?-
-Traccianti?-
-Ah...-
-Del sangue? Morti!-
-Per i giorni felici, all'attacco! Per i giorni felici, distruggiamo il nemico! Per i giorni felici, sacrifichiamo le nostre vite, gloriosamente! Eccoci, i martiri dei giorni felici! Urrà!...-"

uno dei più bei racconti della Rivoluzione culturale e della vita in Cina negli anni del Grande Timoniere
letto questo non serve altro...c'è tutto quel che occorre sapere e anche tutto il dolore che in molti altri romanzi, sia pur bellissimi, è strombazzato e sbattuto in faccia al lettore con intenti sensazionalistici...ma è risaputo che i sussurri e le insinuazioni hanno un impatto maggiore del rumore delle grancasse...e alla fine lasciano un'inquietudine inspiegabile e persistente...

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

For capturing the essence of memory and it's unstructured way of surfacing this book was great. As for being a Noble price winner i dont agree. The rambling in between the actual story left me not perplexed about the essential meaning of life or politics. It just left me fatigued and eager to be done with the book. I don't now have any view of China during or post Cultural Revolution. i merely have a character whose view of women is demeaning and stereotypical insecure and contradictory. Whose own struggle although fearful left me with no sympathy for him or even the remote possibility of understanding. Ironically near the end of the book, reference is made to a musician who uses minimalism in his music like the Author...As a novel it failed but as a rambling introspective philosophical biography it might merit a read. I suspect it received such great reviews simple because it was published so close to the actual return of Hong Kong to China. This book, at least for me lacked the universal messages which would make it timeless and relevant no matter when it was published or read.

[Nick Wellings · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7 stars.

Semi-fictionalised memoir, which seems to be Gao's modus operandi.

The last pages are good, where narrator says he is finally at peace with life. But God, how utterly terrifying the events he relates to us, caught in the whirlwind of Cultural Revolution. State condoned paranoia and madness and illimitable suffering. To be at peace after such personal hardship as we read here is no mean feat.

As with Soul Mountain, two main characters 'you' and 'he' are really Gao himself. A very successful technique.

I imagine the Nobel committee recognised him because he gave voice to a period of oppression, much like Solzhenitsyn. Couple that with the deep spirituality evinced in 'Soul Mountain' and you get perfect Nobel candidature.

Diverting and compelling, but really, Soul Mountain overtops this easily for me.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gao Xingjian has rapidly become one of my favorite authors. His prose is very controlled, but (cliche alert) evocative of powerful emotions. His topic (at least in the two books I've read) seems to be nothing less than the nature of man as illustrated by his experiences during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. When you read this book, you get not only to experience a great artist grappling with basic questions of humanity, but you also get a powerful sense of what life was like in China during thatt umultuous time.

[Iveta · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75*

[Iván Ramírez Osorio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro interesante sobre la vida de las intelectuales en la Revolución Cultural China, un libro sobre el amor a la soledad, a la libertad de expresarse y de vivir en una reclusión total en compañía del ser. Dinámico, atrapante y, en muchas maneras, un libro raro.

[Filip · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF'd. Did not enjoy this one.

[Mikko Saari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kiinalainen nobelisti Gao Xingjian kuvaa Vapaan miehen raamatussa elämää Kiinassa kulttuurivallankumouksen aikana. Kulttuurivallankumouksen on oltava yksi hurjimmista mullistuksista, sen verran tehokkaasti siinä sekoitettiin kokonaisen ison valtion ihmisten elämää ja asemia poliittisella vainoharhaisuudella ja väkivaltaisella terrorismilla.

Tämän kaiken mielivaltaisuuden ja hulluuden kuvaajana Gao onnistuu hyvin. Jossain määrin epäilemättä omaelämäkerralliset kokemukset komennuksista uudelleenkoulutukseen maaseudulle ja kaikesta siitä mielipuolisuudesta, jota kulttuurivallankumous sai aikaan, ovat vaikuttavia ja ahdistavia.

Kolmeen tähteen kirja jää kuitenkin muista syistä. Se oli lukukokemuksena vähän raskas ja kun loppua kohden useammassakin kohdassa huomasin lähinnä odottelevani, että kirja loppuu ja pääsen seuraavan kirjan pariin, neljää tähteä on paha antaa. Kirjan naiskuva, esimerkiksi, tökki pahemman kerran: Gao lähinnä esineellistää naisia seksihimojensa kohteeksi, naisilla ei ole juurikaan muuta merkitystä kuin toimia potentiaalisia seksikumppaneina, toisinaan raiskausta lähentelevällä päällekäyvyydellä.

Vuosituhannen vaihteessa ilmestyneen kirjan kehyksenä on Gaoa muistuttavan päähenkilön vierailu Hongkongissa vähän ennen vallanvaihdosta Iso-Britannialta Kiinalle. Huoli Hongkongin tulevaisuudesta ja paneskelu saksanjuutalaisen Margaretin kanssa ajaa päähenkilön muistelemaan ahdistavia kulttuurivallankumouksen aikaisia tapahtumia, jotka tämä oikeastaan haluaisi vain unohtaa.

Paikoin kirja osuu nasevasti siihen, miten ihmisen ajattelua ei lopultakaan voi kahlita. Vaikka Mao kuinka käskee, miten kaikkien kiinalaisten on ajateltava ja miten toisinajattelusta rankaistaan lopulta kuolemalla, kenelläkään ei kuitenkaan lopulta ole valtaa määrätä ihmisen ajattelusta. Vapaus on lopulta tärkeintä.

[Eliana Rivero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading Challenge Pop Sugar 2017
31. Un libro cuyo personaje principal sea de diferente etnia que tú

El libro de un hombre solo es una novela contada a dos tiempos y, si me fijé bien, contada igualmente por dos voces que parecen ser el mismo hombre. El pasado y el presente se mezclan en la historia de este escritor, chino, que vive, por lo que se supone, en el exilio. El pasado nos muestra la vida en China, la revolución cultural de Mao y las atrocidades cometidas hacia la población del país por unos ideales (¿socialistas?) totalmente perturbadores y espantosos. El presente nos muestra a nuestro protagonista viviendo en algunos países europeos gracias a las representaciones teatrales de sus obras, conociendo a muchas mujeres y teniendo sexo con ellas. Lo que busca este hombre es la libertad, pero es algo difícil de encontrar, ya que no se siente comprendio o, quizá, no entiende su lugar en el mundo, a pesar de que ama la vida.

El tema de la revolución cultural y como está desarrollado en la novela me gustó. Me perdí en ciertas cosas porque cada capítulo del pasado y presente estaba intercalado, y mientras un capítulo me hablaba de los campos de reeducación y esas cosas, el otro era de Margarita y sus problemas emocionales. Digo, me gustó el tema, pero el presente que se narra en la novela me resultó aburridísimo y casi desquiciante con estos personajes tan... insoportables.

Esperaba más o esperaba otra cosa. No sé si realmente entendí el estilo del autor. Lo que sí, es que me costó mucho leerlo.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

"El problema es mantener el aliento, aguantar para no morir ahogado bajo un montón de mierda. Se puede violar a un ser humano, hombre o mujer, con violencia física o violencia política, pero no se puede poseerlo por completo; tu mente te pertenecerá siempre si la preservas". En es ta novela "El Libro de un Hombre Solo", Gao Xingjian disfraza su yo, por un tú o un él y narra su experiencia de vivir bajo un régimen como el de Mao. Hombres y mujeres idiotizadas por un sistema político; y hombres y mujeres que fingían creer en ese sistema para no morir. Es angustiante cuando se teme dormir porque no se sabe que se puede decir entre sueños. El que por la ventana te estén vigilando. El sistema adoptado por China destruyo muchas vidas. En este hermosos libro se refleja cómo se deja de ser por el temor y como se puede llegar a perder la cordura. El personaje principal considera a China su país porque de este viene sus recuerdos a sí sean los más tenebrosos.

[Layal souss · Rating 4 out of 5]

سِفرُ رجُلْ
غاو إكسينغيان
ترجمة خالد الجبيلي
عن دار نينوى


نعود في هذه الرواية إلى برّ الصين حيث رجع إليها الكاتب بعد أن تركها أو هرب منها منذ زمن.
نسترجع معه في ليلةٍ ماجنةٍ برفقة ألمانية التقاها مرتين,
الأولى في زمانه الأول والثاني في الحاضر الذي نستحضر فيه كل الأوراق والذكريات.
تستعرض هذه الرواية الحياة السياسية للصين والثورات التي توالت عليها وكيف كان كل جديدٍ يئدُ القديم بكل عنفٍ.
رواية نجد في تفاصيلها أوجه الشبه بين كل البلدان ومنها العربية,
فكرة الطغاة والثورات التي تأكل البلد قبل أن تحرره.
تتمازج رواية الكاتب الأساسية مع قصص أشخاص مروا واندثروا في الصفحات التالية.
فنجد الحب ,الوطن, الشهوة ,المازوخية ,الطغاة والتبعية بأشكال وشخصيات متنوعة.
في هذه الرواية اْطَلعْتُ على الصين وطريقة حياة إنسان بعيون كاتب مختلف.
تستحق 4 نجوم

[Old Man JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fictional autobiography telling the story of Gao Xingjian's years during the Cultural Revolution in China and then alternating for brief descriptions about his later years living in Paris, going back and forth between the two narrations. By far, the recounting of the horror of life in China during the Cultural Revolution was the main focus of the book and kept me completely riveted but the parts about his life in the West was almost unnecessary, talking mostly about his relationship with women and sexual affairs. This was a good book but not nearly as good as "Soul Mountain" that I consider a masterpiece.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't like this at all. I made it through 104 pages before deciding to quit. I kept hoping I'd get more immersed in the narrator's recollections, but I didn't. And I really didn't enjoy the ridiculous interchanges with his (current) lover during or leading up to sex, which happened far too often and went on way too long.

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved - the personal account through history that us not widely appreciated
Liked - the twists and turns and personal accounts
Not sure about - the skipping back and forth in time made a challenging topic harder to follow
Didn't Like - the plot line where everything results in sex not sure the narrators need for sex in every chapter added to the story line

[Sam Romilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up on this one. The description of the horrors of the cultural revolution were moving without doubt. What let it down was the none stop descriptions of various love affairs and continually sexual encounters. Cynically one could feel this was felt needed to capture a wider audience.

[William West]

Don't read this Gao work (sucky). Rather, read his previous opus "Soul Mountain" (masterpiece).

[Caro_Cédric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant!! La structure narrative décousue (au rythme des souvenirs du narrateur) renforce encore ce récit magnifique.