Kærlighed i et nyt årtusind

by Can Xue, Sidse Laugesen (Translator)

Kærlighed i et nyt årtusind er en roman, der cirkler mellem det ydre og indre, det fysiske og det psykiske. Mellem det at kunne styre og definere sit liv og at slippe kontrollen for at kunne leve – mellem at leve prosaisk og poetisk. Det er en roman, hvor poesien åbner laguner i sproget. Til tonerne af Kameliadamens sang kaster en række kvinder og mænd sig ud i livet for at finde og redefinere kærligheden og friheden. De tager sig en elsker eller gør karriere som sexarbejdere eller træffer helt andre valg i deres søgende vandring gennem livet som det spænder sig ud mellem frihed og fastlåsthed.

Can Xue skriver på en gang legende og letbenet og dybt alvorligt, når hun giver sit bud på kærlighed og liv som det også kunne forme sig – organisk og bevægeligt – i dette stadig nye årtusind

Genres: China, Fiction, Short Stories, Magical Realism, Asia, Chinese Literature, 21st Century

465 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

残雪

Can Xue (Chinese: 残雪; pinyin: Cán Xuĕ), née Deng Xiaohua (Chinese: 邓小华), is a Chinese avant-garde fiction writer, literary critic, and tailor. She was born May 30, 1953 in Changsha, Hunan, China. Her family was severely persecuted following her father being labeled an ultra-rightist in the Anti-rightist Movement of 1957. Her writing, which consists mostly of short fiction, breaks with the realism of earlier modern Chinese writers. She has also written novels, novellas, and literary criticisms of the work of Dante, Jorge Luis Borges, and Franz Kafka. Some of her fiction has been translated and published in English.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Henk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is as disjointed as a fever dream, with people appearing and disappearing at random, instant love everywhere and requiring a lot of attention to distill any kind of meaning from it
Mania is a wonderful illness. Without falling to this level we cannot know how deep our love is.

Baffling is maybe the word that most comes to mind while reflecting on Love in the New Millennium. Somewhere a character says The surface is deep and that is certainly true. Don't be deceived by the 288 pages, this is a very dense reading experience.

We follow loosely a group of women and their lovers in an unnamed Chinese city. The women have freed themselves from factory labor and now work in a spa/brothel. What the social status of sex is exactly that factory workers are dreaming of that career, is unclear.
The focus on hedonism, making oneself happy, and all of the affairs between married men and women give me both a modern feel but also reminds me of Anna Karenina. I feel the entire book is at this intersection between 19th century over the top romantic writing and avant garde modernism. The dreamlike atmosphere of the book also reminded me of The Memory Police and the fragmentation and vagueness of Anna Kavan her work and The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Memory and history take a prominent role, the below quotes are all from the start of the book:
But history will not disappear
Were you the person trying to reverse history's verdict?
It hasn’t become history, that requires suffering and waiting
History is fortunately destroyed
They haven’t become history yet, it requires suffering and waiting

Can Xue her writing requires a lot of dedicated attention to follow, and in the end I don't think full comprehension is really the goal. There is a kind of spirit world in the rural hometown of one of the characters but also cellphone's and a McDonalds. There is a magically moving Pachinko parlor aka free port that seems to be a portal to the spirits of the dead.
Nest county seems to be offering a kind of connection with nature that’s deeper than the normal world, and offers finally a role to women other than prostitutes or destitute factory workers, with someone becoming a teacher.
We encounter a perspective wise not retreating detention centre, maybe an allusion to the author her history, that gave me Wes Anderson movie like feels.
There is just a lot going on that is hard to summarize, like as if the reader is dropped in a foreign country and can only comprehend between 30% and 60% of what's going on.
Even the characters themselves note this, not only does one note that My mind is in chaos but also Good, your not understanding is understanding seems a very apt quote in this context.

Love is persuasive between all the men and women, the obsessive, instant and heterosexual one that I associate with for instance The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. Everyone knows each other, is in love with each other or is in love instantly, making the characters feel rather interchangeable. The dialogue is often clunky, overly blunt and not often fully aligning to the scene (my favourite sentence being: Her face was like an autumn cucumber). People casually changing in age and occupation and even species doesn't help in this regard.

When men and women mingle crimes are unavoidable is noted, but more often than not passion is not to be blame for incidents, but rather strange events just popping up in the narrative. There are many random nightly outings, parents universally absent or dead, ancestral homes lost or decrepit; which might be a metaphor for the bewilderment a rapidly modernizing country might bring to its subjects. Economic critique also comes back, for instance:
Is life just for business?
The poor were those without privacy

Seeking happiness outside oneself, with someone else instead of working at oneself seems an other interesting line of critique. Only loving someone when one is not with them is even taken to the extreme when someone just goes to jail to be able to uphold the idealized version of his lover. Also the marginalisation of ones in sanatoria, dealing with mental health issues, comes back: He is ill of course, but who of us isn’t?

Reading this book is like walking in a mist and constantly new things occur that don’t feel rooted from the prose before (Past events mean nothing, Everything that happens is bizarre and People as changeable as the weather the characters note as well). Like being in the matrix, incomprehensible, feverish, dreamlike, like a trip, almost hallucinatory.
In the end there must always be a way out a character notes, but the labyrinth Can Xue takes the reader to doesn't seem a clean cut or discernable key to interpret the journey. Deeply interesting and daunting, and not fully successful for me as a reader, 1.5 stars rounded up.

[Tommi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surreal challenge of a book, Can Xue’s Love in the New Millennium, translated from the Chinese by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen, kept me entranced much longer than an average novel. The book is only 264 pages long (in Yale University Press’ edition that’s simply gorgeous) but I often couldn’t read more than 20–30 pages a day because if you miss a sentence, you might have no idea where you are anymore.

Had I been too busy lately, had I slept badly et cetera, this could have been a 2-star read, but the spring sun is finally out in Finland and I’m feeling great so I could approach Can Xue’s bizarre novel with renewed mental and physical strength, and greatly enjoyed the cerebral fun. If that makes sense.

I should note that I approach the novel from a very limited perspective as a Westerner with a negligible knowledge of Chinese culture, so I may have perceived the text as more difficult than it actually is for anyone with a better grounding in China and its culture. Funnily enough, I recently read the first book The Golden Days of Cao Xuegin’s 18th-century classic of Chinese literature The Story of the Stone or The Dream of the Red Chamber, and found it similar to Xue’s novel in terms of (1) a large-ish cast of characters between whom the perspective shifts often, (2) humor in everyday situations, and (3) magical realism.

The third similarity is in a huge role in Xue’s novel. Love in the New Millennium is closer to a dream narrative because of its surrealist nature. (It reminded me of Sjón’s CoDex 1962, which I read recently. Coincidentally, there’s a reference to Iceland on the penultimate page of Love). But I would say it’s just about enough stable: it has a fixed cast of characters and locations.

In the spirit of the ancient Romance tradition (dating back at least to early Greek fiction like Daphnis and Chloe), these locations could roughly be divided into city and country. City is where the novel starts, depicting the cruel working conditions in a factory from which some of the female characters escape to work in a brothel. (That’s a better choice at least in Xue’s wildly imaginative storyworld.) There is a lot of surveillance in the city: men often lurk in some crevices waiting for a chance to get to talk to women. Near the middle of the novel, we approach the natural environment mainly in the form of Nest County, a mystical, magical place where some of the characters find a piece of mind by listening to the sounds of the earth, and one becomes a geography teacher.

And it’s earth that seems to be one of the main elements of the book. In Nest County, Dr. Liu would “sometimes spent the night in the mountains, sleeping in the thick grass with an ear pressed to the ground” in search of some sort of new natural medicine: “He had always felt that there was an undeveloped new world within herbal medicine, a world that grew alongside the human body, with reciprocal, invisible connections between them.” Throughout the book, there are multiple references to caves, muddy earth, sewers, all things underground or terrestrial basically. Additionally, there are many references to “ancient city walls” from which “small animals” appear in the outside world. In a nutshell, there seems to be a yearning toward some ancient interior (a nest?) as many of the characters are looking for their ultimate “hometown.” Places tend to have an ephemeral quality in the novel, often disappearing after visits or drastically changing in appearance so that they’re unrecognizable.

Love is a very heteronormative concept in Xue’s storyworld. I guess one could frown upon the old-fashioned (and very not 21st-century) idea of love in the book, but I’m rather awed by Xue’s strong and very peculiar aesthetic vision: the story has a very distinctive timelessness to it. Love seems to function as a dyadic and inescapable concept here: women yearn for men and vice versa but always find it hard to find a suitable partner. This yearning seems to tie in with fears of confinement, and closer to the end of the novel there is some sort of a liberating fire – liberation from love? Or a fire the liberates the character from the fear of confinement?

Outside there were explosions of thunder, then lightning ignited the giant pile of wastepaper at the doorway. A huge fire sealed off the door, expelling thick billows of smoke into the room. Everyone started coughing, A Si was also coughing. Suffocating, she tried to rush out, but these people would not let her go. … Suddenly a light shone in A Si’s mind, and she shouted, “This is the free port!”

I’m obviously pouring my own interpretations into the novel, but its indecipherable nature seems to call for it. Like Eileen Myles notes in the introduction, Love in the New Millennium is more of a vase that the reader fills by reading. And I like that in books. I typed this review in one go in 30 minutes or so, and it’s not often I’m this enthused to share as much about a book after finishing. I think it attests to the novel’s greatness. Thank you, MBI 2019, for introducing me to this fantastic author!

[Ernst · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bin froh, dass Ich zu guter Letzt doch ehrliche 3🌟 vergeben kann. Lange Zeit dümpelte es für mich bei 1-2🌟 rum, aber das letzte Drittel hat es wettgemacht.

Mein positivster Punkt: im letzten Drittel erzeugt sie teilweise eine eindrucksvolle mystische Atmosphäre, vor allem in der kleinen Stadt Chao, wo man nicht sicher sein kann, ob das nicht schon eine Art Jenseits ist. Hier wird es dann plötzlich ganz still, kontemplativ, diesig, düster und surreal, traumartig.
Vor allem Xiao Yuans Reise nach Chao wegen eines Lehrauftrags und ihrer heimlichen Liebe zu Doktor Liu.
Meine Lieblingspassage aus diesem Abschnitt ist ihr Gespräch mit dem Kollegen Lehrer Zhong, der ihre Zweifel, dass die Kinder ihren Unterricht langweilig finden, zerstreuen will und ihr rät „sich mit den Kindern zu entspannen und Teil dieses kollektiven Abschweifens zu werden. Das wäre eine ausgezeichnete Art der Kommunikation.“

Und was ich auch sehr positiv spüre: die Autorin hatte ein Anliegen, sie wollte etwas vermitteln, etwas ausdrücken und nicht bloß irgendeine gefällige Geschichte erzählen. Aber vielleicht wollte sie ein bisschen zu viel, im Grunde wollte sie das ganze moderne China einfangen, die Verlorenheit des Individuums, die Unzuverlässigkeit der Liebe, die Suche nach Orientierung und Halt und natürlich speziell die Frauenperspektive.

Die Mittel die sie dafür verwendet, fand ich in den ersten zwei Dritteln ehrlich gesagt hauptsächlich anstrengend, weil sich alles im Kreis dreht, wie ein unendliches Karussell, das man nicht stoppen kann. Es ist ein geräuschvolles Gewimmel, ein permanentes Auftreten und Abgehen von Figuren, wie in einem hektisch inszenierten Theaterstück, ein Beziehungsreigen, wer mit wem, die neuesten Liebsten, ein endloses Geschnatter, Tratsch und Klatsch. Und all das nicht wirklich unterhaltsam sondern hauptsächlich mühsam zu lesen, weil es auch überwiegend in einer über weite Strecken fast plappernden Alltagssprache daherkommt.
Plot gibt es eigentlich keinen richtigen. Ja, es geht um mittelalte Frauen (zwischen 30-50 Jahren), die mal in einer Textilfabrik gearbeitet haben und als die geschlossen wurde, fanden einige als Prostituierte, die sich ihre Kunden in einem Wellnesshotel angeln, ihr „Glück“. Aber die Settings sind reine Kulisse und alles austauschbar. Erschwerend ist, dass unzählige Figuren auftreten, die nicht leicht auseinander zu halten sind, eine richtige Hauptfigur gibt es nicht, viele ähneln sich sehr stark (nicht nur im Namen sondern auch in den Wesenszügen), was den Lesefluss extrem ausbremst.

Fazit: Nobelpreisträger-Literatur-Feeling hatte ich hier absolut nicht beim Lesen, aber meine Eindrücke könnten auch verfälscht sein, weil ich mehr als 2 Jahre gebraucht habe, um das Buch durchzuackern.
Ich werde sehen, was von der Autorin noch kommt, kann nicht ausschließen, dass ich noch mal etwas von ihr lesen würde. Dass sie bemerkenswertes Potenzial hat, hab ich im letzten Drittel gespürt.

——————————————————
Das sind meine kurzen Notizen vom Oktober 2024 (Anmerkung: da wurde sie in einzelnen Medien vage als Nobel-„Geheimtipp“ kolportiert):

Ich musste das leider nach ca. 2/3 abbrechen, weil es mich nicht mehr interessiert hat, ein paar Monate hat es gedauert bis dahin zu kommen, dann kam noch ca 1 Jahr Anstaubphase am Stapel der unbeendeten Romane …
Falls sie heute den Nobelpreis gewinnt, werde ich es noch mal zur Hand nehmen.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘I - I’m confused...’

‘Correct, young man! Very good feedback. You respect my work!’

The Last Lover, translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen from the original by Can Xue (残雪;) won the US Best Translated Book Award for 2015, as well as being longlisted for the 2015 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

Love in the New Millennium, from the same translator/author pair, has now been longlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International, the successor to the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

I appreciated The Last Lover, but my review noted various features:

- "There is a linear progression to the novel of sorts - a form of dream quest - but characters appear, disappear and morph seemingly at random"

- "from modern literature the nearest I can come is Murakami's Wild Sheep Chase meets Ishiguro's Unconsoled, and from classical literature Calvino, Bruno Schulz, Borges, Dante and Kafka who the author acknowledges as influences"

- than Can Xue was not shy of acknowledging her own brilliance and her place in the literary landscape, and highly demanding of her readers. From a Q&A with her translator (https://bombmagazine.org/articles/can...

Annelise Finegan Wasmoen:
So, you’ve said that readers of your fiction need to be creative, and this reminded me of a review of The Last Lover, in which Larissa Pham described her experience of reading the novel: “It seems impossible that I could crawl so deep within this novel and have everything remain the same.” By the end, she writes that the book is “like a puzzling dream one returns to again and again.” Are the feelings that Pham describes similar to your experience of creativity?

Can Xue:
Yes. I think her reading is promising, even enterprising. She has boundless prospects as a reader. But I think she should have continued unearthing the depths of the novel, and not quit at the level of “a puzzling dream.” Most of my readers stop at the level of “dream reading,” which is still a conventional way of reading. I’ve learned that the kind of literature I write belongs in a category with Calvino, Borges, Dante, Kafka, and writers like them. My literary works are the same as theirs: every piece has a solution, a taut emotional logic

In the same interview Can Xue also pointed another student of the translator's to this novel:

AFW Recently I had the opportunity to teach your novel The Last Lover in a world literature survey. I worried at first that the students would find the novel too difficult, but it turned out to fit in perfectly with the other books assigned: selections from Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Marriage Plot, Federico García Lorca’s surreal Poems in New York, Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Key. The students were fascinated by the story of Joe and his mania for reading, as well as the theme of the inner long march. One of the students asked me about the way the novel ends. She thought that the long march was a way of talking about a journey toward self-discovery or self-knowledge, but she didn’t understand why Lisa and Maria’s long march ends in a graveyard. What would you have told her?

CX Your student is very smart! Her question is a question that the author asks herself. Today, in an age when the emotions of modern humans have developed to a comparatively advanced stage, the goal of perfect romantic love, with the soul and body as one, seems to grow more and more remote. This is because people place ever higher demands on their emotions. The two activities of love and art follow the same pattern. It’s exactly like the scene I just described: if the pull of love were fully expressed at its greatest peak, it would lead toward death, with the horse and rider together in a death-defying performance. The author raises a question, but she is not able to state the answer right away. Her answer will be found in the next piece of writing, because this solution is a new creation. If your student wants to find the answer to the question “what would happen if the long march continued?” she should read the third novel in the series—Love Stories in the New Millennium (the first was Five Spice Street) —because the answer is in that book.

I think that even though not every reader can completely understand this novel, the plot is unique and engaging, and the humor is one of the novel’s strengths

The combination of appreciation for the humour but incomprehension that Can Xue forecasts is one I share.

Credit is due to Annelise Finegan Wasmoen's excellent translation - and indeed Can Xue is also highly demanding of her translators. Her own words from another interview (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/inte...) referring to herself in the third person:

Can Xue's works are truly exceptional; I feel that the most important skill my translators can have is to read the original intensively, thereby having a thorough grasp of the deep underlying humor and general feel of the language in my works. How precisely they express something in their translations is closely connected with their power to feel and their ability to grasp logic, because these kinds of fictions have already surpassed the profundity of philosophy.

My work belongs to an especially advanced kind of literature, far more ahead of its time than Kafka was to his readers in his day.

Love in the New Millennium rather lacks the 'journey' of The Last Lover, which was something of a dream quest novel, and instead gives us a tangled tale of the loves and lovers of a rather confusing cast of characters - there hardly seems to be a male/female pair in the book who haven't been married, or lovers, or at least one infatuated with the other. It's hard for the readers to keep track - and indeed for the characters as well, with people frequently changing appearance or even age, sometimes before another's eyes, popping up unexpectedly and disappearing just as randomly, coming back from death, and all set against the physical backdrop of locations that behave much the same. The net effect is that the characters seem as baffled as the reader. A typical exchange reads:

‘No, Sixiang, I don’t understand.’

‘Good!’ Long Sixiang clapped her hands. ‘Your not understanding is understanding!’

With her first clap the pigs went mad, their cries rising straight to the heavens.

and frequently in the book characters say they are 'confused', find things 'inexplicable', 'bizarre', 'unusual', find themselves frequently 'astonished' and remark how others 'behave strangely', to give but a few examples. Indeed this is a world where people retreat to dreams for sanity and clarity.

One key motif is The Lady of the Camellias (La Dame aux camélias) from La Traviata - an elderly character of that name who performs the part of Violetta in the opera - and one assumes the author is contrasting 19th and 21st century love affairs. Love in the New Millennium as envisaged in the pages of this novel is also surprisingly homogeneous - 100% heterosexual, with beautiful women pursued by rather disreputable men, and, in a way, serial monogamy, except changing partners on a daily basis seems to be fine so long as it is clear who is your lover.

Another key theme seems to be the effect of economic development - many of the characters deciding to upgrade from working in a factory to the greater freedom from working in a bath-cum-whorehouse, and most hankering for their home towns (which are mystically hard to find).

The beautifully produced book comes with an introduction from Eileen Myles, reprinted in the
Paris Review which largely sings the book's praises but also admits:

It’s irresistible, the way one enters this laughable, shifting no-time where everyone inside is talking about like the weather. It’s also very boring, as a plotless book is. A circling, nonbuilding narrative gets tiring. What’s the pleasure, then? Humor and surprise. It’s a frankly poetic existence. Plus my reader’s sense of awe grew continually at the endless refillability of the thing. The book is a vase, it’s a form.

and this is the novel's biggest weakness. It's so hard to get a foothold - I found myself not so much 'dream reading' (to use the author's phrase) as drifting off, realising I had read several pages and absorbed nothing, and yes, at times, it can indeed get a little tedious. But then one finds a plot thread to grab on to, a humorous episode or particular absurdity to enjoy, and ones interest is rekindled.

Here's a typical passage that manages both - and note that there is no context in the novel (other than perhaps Xiao Yuan's loves for clocks) that makes this passage anymore comprehensible in situ:

The next day at noon [Xiao Yuan] was on the train heading northeast to Manchuria. On this trip the passenger in the facing bunk was a blind man. He told Xiao Yuan to call him Cricket. He said, “I hear you’ve brought quite a few timepieces. I can keep time more accurately than any clock. Listen: ticktock, ticktock . . . ”

He imitated a cricket’s chirp with marvelous accuracy, amusing Xiao Yuan so much she laughed out loud.

“I learned from an old cricket at my family’s hearth. As time went on, I turned into a timepiece. Joy can be found in this.”

One of his long, thin hands kept groping at his chest, the hand showing his apprehension.

“Do you need help?” Xiao Yuan felt she had to ask.

He did not answer. She heard muffled drumbeats, as if from a small drum. “This is my heart beating. I’ve always wanted to make someone hear my heartbeat, and now I’ve succeeded. I’m so glad, knowing that you heard.”

Yet his expression was not glad. He seemed to be waiting for something, gloomily.

“The time is two-ten and twenty seconds,” he said.

“Correct. She’s coming over,” Xiao Yuan said.

“Who?”

“That thing that has an appointment with you.”

“Ah yes, she’s coming!” He began to laugh. “What do you think of me as a timepiece?”

“You work too hard, Cricket! You belong at the hearth. If it were me, I would rather be one of those hermits or vagrants in the thick grass.”

The color of the sky grew darker. The locomotive whistled. They had already passed Shenyang.

Xiao Yuan finished getting ready to sleep. She saw Cricket still sitting motionless. The young man on the upper bunk put his head over the edge to look below, clearing his throat with affectation. Xiao Yuan realized he must have been following her conversation with the blind man. She felt a little uncomfortable, but since Cricket sat there, very dignified, she also felt inferior.

She gently lay down and said, as if into the air, “I like to travel. Making a journey is the same as clinging to one place. If you settle down in your hometown, it feels instead as though you are drifting along.”

“Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan, you must have such a big heart!” Cricket exclaimed sincerely.

She gradually fell asleep. In a hazy state she heard the sound of the small drum at even intervals accompanying the rustling sound, sha sha, of the rain. How pleasant! Then she heard a frightened scream.

It was the train attendant screaming because the passenger in the berth above Cricket had fallen, dead, to the floor. The blind man sat as motionless as before. He said, “He wanted me to help him free himself, but I could not. Oh Xiao Yuan, I really want to weep now!”

Needless to say we never find out anything more about the young man.

Two other helpful reviews - putting the for and against case for the novel

'For': http://www.full-stop.net/2019/03/07/r...

'Against': http://artsfuse.org/176561/book-revie...

2.5 stars - rounded up to 3 because Can Xue is in many ways infuriating but somehow always stimulating.

[Damian Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exactly what I would expect, yet could never have expected, from a modern mythological epic. All of the crucial elements of myth are present and replete with up-to-date motifs. Can Xue has suggested that the same is true of Kafka, which I think is fair enough. I'm reminded of something like The Ramayana or Journey to the West (I gather this book has a little in common with Dream of the Red Chamber, which I've never read.) I'm given the feeling that one could study this for decades and continue to mine greater and greater degrees of meaning. I'm sore tempted—as it is, I've read it once and have compiled several pages of notes charting the significance I've found in various of its motifs.

The insubstantial pachinko parlor which comprises the form of the "free port" (one of many), Pear Mountain with its wolves howling in the wilderness, The Lady of the Camillias and her screech-like singing, the toxic sting of the red scorpion in the sewers, the rhinoceros horn, the drinking of ink, death and resurrection amidst endless love affairs—at several points in the story we're told, of one character or another, that their "thoughts were in chaos." To my mind, this refers to none other than the reader, and, if approached with the proper care, could very well be the herald of a deeper understanding.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is published in English as Love in the New Millennium, but evidently its original Chinese title could be more accurately translated as New Millennium Love Stories. It’s a subtle difference, but I prefer the Chinese title. After all, this book doesn’t make any kind of comprehensive statement about modern-day love. Instead, it’s a collection of loosely linked, frequently baffling stories. The cover copy of the U.S. edition doesn’t fully convey the level of weird magical realism in this book. It’s full of surreal events, lacking a sense of causality or progress, all told in a deadpan way.

And if the title Love in the New Millennium primed you to expect a novel about how Tinder and emojis are affecting young people’s love lives, you’ll also be disappointed or confused. For one thing, the central characters are all aged 35 and up. For another, there is very little mention of cell phones or the Internet. In some ways, the world it depicts feels more 19th-century than 21st-century: most of the characters work either at factories or as prostitutes, and though they live in a large city, they are just one generation removed from being rural farmers. Can Xue* even alludes several times to 19th-century bourgeois fiction: a chapter is titled "Sentimental Education" and there’s a whole plot thread about The Lady of the Camellias. (And the cotton-factory workers fear dying young of “cotton lung,” just like in North and South !) I guess these parallels make sense: Europe industrialized in the 19th century and China is undergoing a massive industrialization right now. But it does remind you that the phrase “new millennium” likely has different connotations in the West than it does in China.

I found this book a real slog to get through, but I also recognize that I'm very far from the ideal reader for it. I’m not super familiar with Chinese literature and culture, and it’s hard for me to enjoy deadpan surrealism. (I think I prefer my magical realism if it contains more of a sense of wonder or delight.) Giving Can Xue the benefit of the doubt, I have heard that there are a lot of baffling things about daily life in modern China, so maybe that’s why she wrote an intentionally baffling book. And maybe she agrees with her character Long Sixiang, who says, in one of the many paradoxical aphorisms that are sprinkled throughout the book, “Good! Your not understanding is understanding!”

*Per a Chinese-speaking friend, the author’s name should be pronounced something like “Tsan Shway.”

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

”How is that possible?”
“Things are always this way. Aren’t you getting used to it?”

Some time ago, I watched the third season of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. I mention this because that TV series and this book left me with the same bewildered feeling. I have to say that I rather like the sense of confusion and incomprehension, although I can imagine many readers would be infuriated by it.

I almost didn’t read this book. I read some excerpts from interviews with the author and they both attracted me and put me off the idea. One of the author’s key statements seemed to be that readers are not worthy of reading her books (I can’t remember the exact wording but it was something like that which sounded fairly arrogant). This is a good tactic, I think, on the part of an author. The reader is left in a quandary: either you give the book a rave review or you prove your unworthiness as a reader.

This is not an easy book to read. It interleaves multiple tales of lovers, many of whom seem to have been partnered with several other people from other tales which can make it difficult to keep track of who is where and with whom, especially as time doesn’t flow linearly (well, I don’t think it does - it can be difficult to tell which direction it is heading!). But this multi-story narrative is only part of the complexity: any book which can, without any warning and without any follow on, suddenly include a passage that says

Xiao Yuan listened closely to the gentle narrative of the women who tended the mulberries as she relaxed and fell fast asleep. She woke up once, got out of bed, turned on the light, walked across to the wallpapered wall opposite, entered the wall, and went back to sleep standing inside it

or another that says

They were underground discussing the topography of the Gobi Desert among the racket made by the plants and animals. It must have been a marvellous event. Could the train to the capital have been heading toward a tunnel leading to the earth’s core? Small wonder Xiao Yuan brought so many timepieces.

clearly isn’t going to be simple to read. It is only 264 pages long, but it takes a long time to read because you have to read very, very slowly. There are many, many sentences which do not follow on obviously from the preceding sentence. It is around here that I start to reveal my failings as a reader.

Overall, despite the fact that I feel that a lot of the book washed over me, I sort of feel that this is part of the plan. There isn’t really a plot to follow (although when you get to the end, you sort of feel that maybe there was), but there are lots and lots of very strange events that do gradually start to link together giving us a view into the lives of several people and their relationships. It’s weird, it’s difficult to read, it is confusing, but it is, in fact, a lot of fun. What I would be interested to know is how much of the book would make more sense to a Chinese person or someone with a more in depth knowledge of Chinese culture and history. Over the last few years, I have read several novels that look at recent Chinese history, so I have some background to draw on, but I did feel that I was perhaps missing out on some of the references.

Paul’s review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) does a great job of giving some background to the book. I recommend you read it (partly because I owe Paul a debt of thanks as it was his copy that I read! And, by the way, the book itself is a thing of beauty.).

3.5 stars - not sure which way to tip the balance!

[Jin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es gibt Bücher, die sind sehr schwierig zu beschreiben. Dieses Buch gehört leider zu dieser Sorte; Man fühlt sich in der Schwebe, die surrealen Faktoren, die sich in die reale Welt reinschieben, erzeugen ein leichtes Unbehagen und während des Lesens versucht man die Puzzlestücke richtig zusammensetzen in der Hoffnung, dass das Bild am Ende einem mehr Bedeutung geben kann.

An sich fand ich die Geschichte interessant über die "Liebe im neuen Jahrtausend" wie es der Titel schon besagt. Wir sind in China in der Gegenwart und es werden verschiedene Formen von Liebe zwischen Mann und Frau gezeigt, die sich real, falsch und richtig anfühlen. Es geht um viele Geheimnisse, Einsamkeit und Paranoia, die im Wechselspiel zueinander die Realität so lange verzerren, dass man sich nicht mehr sicher ist, was wirklich die Realität ist. Die Gefühle der Charaktere zueinander waren gut beschrieben, aber ich wusste bis zum Ende nicht, was mir der Autor mit dem Buch sagen will. Außerdem fühlten sich die Charaktere und auch der Schauplatz leider entsetzlich austauschbar an und vor allem der Schauplatz China so schwach.

Man hätte hier viel mehr ins Kuriose und Surreale reinrutschen können, ich fand es schade, dass der Inhalt der Erzählkunst nicht gerecht wurde. Es war wie nur die Oberfläche zu zeigen, ohne ins Innere, das tatsächliche Wichtige, vordringen zu können.

** Dieses Buch wurde mir über NetGalley als E-Book zur Verfügung gestellt **

[Abbie | ab_reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Totally skimmed the last part, I’m just not a fan of books where the purpose seems to be to not get it!

[Fergus Nm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The term "dream-like" is overused for sure, but if there ever was a book that captured the illogic of dreams, it's Love in the New Millennium. There's moments of breathtaking beauty and truly phenomenal visuals (any chapter involving Nest County!) tempered with occasionally frustrating stretches of non-plot. Perhaps one to revisit - a first read to let it all wash over you, a second to pick through out the patterns and secrets in the text. While maybe being 40 pages too long and boring at times (even the otherwise laudatory introduction notes this), it's really like not much else out there. One for adventurous readers nourished more by poetry than by plot.

[Kiera Pond · Rating 1 out of 5]

0/5 stars. This book was horrible I only finished reading it for book club.

It felt like reading a fever dream in the worst way possible. The characters were all one note and honestly awful people and not interesting in the slightest. The writing was awful, nothing flowed well.

[كـ · Rating 5 out of 5]

هذه الرواية أشبه بالسير ماشيًا وأنت نائم ..
رواية غريبة الشكل والسرد والمضمون ، متاهة في البحث عن الحب ، متاهة وعبثية وسيريالية لا متناهية، أحلام وأحاديث نفس بليدة مرة ومشتعلة مرات أخرى ..
سأكتب المراجعة لاحقًا..

[〰️Beth〰️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bewildered Beguiled Bemused

My mind went so many places in this book I am not certain on how to rate it.

I try to never give spoilers but for Westerners interested in reading this please keep in mind the author is considered Avant-Gard .

Now visualize the TV show Seinfeld where each episode is everyday life about nothing and a group of people seem to know others but don’t realize then know the same people. Add in David Lynch twists, magical realism, the ebb and flow of love and partners, and Chinese humor. Then decide if you want to read the book.

I am probably explaining this poorly. I had to take time reading this short book and believe I will read it again to flesh out more ideas.

[Asser elnokaly]

انا تهت و دماغي تاهت و اتحولت من الرواية ديه...
الغاز و خيالات و حاجات كتير...

[Vetle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absurd, komisk og forvirrende. I episodisk form følger boken 10+ kjærlighetsforhold (veldig løst) sentrert rundt et bordell. Det store karaktergalleriet er godt skildret, og mange av personene man møter er likanes og minneverdige.

Mens det var mye jeg likte, har jeg inntrykk av at jeg manglet nødvendig kontekst for boken, og jeg klarer ikke å fange opp noe tydelig fellestrekk som forener historiene på en god måte. Som et resultat opplevde jeg også boken som utrolig kompakt. Mens jeg koste meg mye underveis, må jeg innrømme å være litt lettet nå som jeg er ferdig.

[Patrick Hewett · Rating 5 out of 5]

always feels good perservering through a novel then vibing when you get the tone.

wierd, absurd, funny, sweet.

I've rarely read absurdist/wierd stuff and felt anything (other than calmness from murakami's prose or terror from Kafka) but this made me feel such love for all the characters and their rich nonsensical lives.

[Minh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ôi idol, bớt 1 sao vì cẩm hường quá so với Hoàng nê phố hay Đào nguyên ngoài cõi thế ^^ Nhưng thôi, quyết định vẫn cho 5 sao

Là một trong những nhà văn Trung Quốc được dịch ra tiếng nước ngoài nhiều nhất, từ những truyện ngắn đầu tay như Bong bóng xà phòng trên chậu nước đen, Hoàng Nê Phố… Tàn Tuyết đã xác lập phong cách của mình. Thế nhưng với sự chuyển biến từ năm 2002 trở đi, mà trong đó Những chuyện tình thế kỉ mới từng lọt vào đề cử của giải Man Booker như một đại diện – đã cho thấy một Tàn Tuyết rất khác.

Là cuốn tiểu thuyết có cấu trúc lạ, Những chuyện tình thế kỉ mới bao gồm 11 chương sách, khắc họa mảnh đời của những cá nhân bơ vơ có cùng mục đích. Tàn Tuyết triệt bỏ thời gian và không gian một cách hữu hình, để đưa nó tiến sâu hơn vào địa hạt nội tâm, từ đó làm nên chồng lớp xếp chồng lên nhau. Liệu những nhân vật này là người có thật hay những hồn ma? Liệu họ bước đi và có đời sống, hay chỉ tồn tại như dạng ẩn thân?

Nói Những chuyện tình thế kỉ mới có phần khác biệt so với chuỗi tác phẩm sáng tạo trư��c năm 2002 là bởi Tàn Tuyết dường như đã bớt cay nghiệt về phía quá khứ, từ đó mở ra không gian văn chương có phần mới hơn, dễ thẩm thấu hơn và mang nhiều ý nghĩa khái quát hơn. Chẳng hạn Bong bóng xà phòng trong chậu nước đen hay Hoàng Nê Phố, cả hai đều hướng về một thời kì đen tối rất muốn chôn vùi của đất nước này. Thế nhưng cuốn tiểu thuyết này lại khác, nó hướng tới một thế giới đại đồng của những con người khát khao tình cảm, và ở trên cùng là sự tự do.

Ở tiểu thuyết này, Tàn Tuyết có tính giễu nhại vô cùng khác biệt so với phần lớn tác phẩm mô tả nỗi đau cũng như hành động cực đoan của bà. Từ việc tập trung khai thác những người “công nhân chính là nền móng” làm một công việc không mấy vẻ vang, cho đến quay ngược trở lại những nỗi đau hằn, Tàn Tuyết dường như muốn đến gần hơn với mảnh đất mà mình sinh sống, với bầu không khí khắc nghiệt và sự kiểm duyệt, bứt rứt của nó. Tàn Tuyết mở ra không gian văn chương có phần kí bí, thế nhưng mặt khác bà lại cho thấy nội dung cũng như cảm hứng quả thật gần gũi.

Nói về tình yêu, Tàn Tuyết khai thác một cách mạnh bạo khát khao yêu đương của các nhân vật. Ở các chương đầu, chưa hết được 2 trang sách thì đã thấy được một sự phồn thực về mặt dục tình. Bị triệt tiêu hết quá khứ định hình, nên cuộc đời họ chỉ còn là những hành động mà họ chính là chủ thể. Ám chỉ thời kì “quá độ”, tất cả nhân vật của Tàn Tuyết dường như chán ghét nhịp độ công xưởng. Họ thà chịu đau, thà chịu tổn thương… hơn là quẩn quanh với những tiếng ồn không thôi yên nghỉ.

Với họ tình yêu một khi chạm đến đã là cực khoái của những xúc cảm. Như vậy nên dẫu nằm trong chiếc rương có phần chật chội, hay sâu dưới ba tầng đất, thì họ vẫn yêu và vẫn tin mình đang ở trung tâm của Trái Đất này. Và dẫu là một hồn ma hay người phàm trần, thì họ cũng e ngại những sự cô độc đến mức bám víu vào nhau, dẫu cho bất cứ thứ gì có thể xảy ra…

Ảnh hưởng nữ quyền trong tác phẩm này không hề ẩn giấu mà được Tàn Tuyết phát lộ ngay ở bề mặt. Những người như Thúy Lan vẫn luôn trung thành với dục vọng của mình. Họ chọn phương cách sẵn lòng sa ngã, và luôn giữ vững khát vọng tự do. Bởi vì “con người ai cũng có mặt nạ”, “ai mà không có mặt đáng thương”… nên với Những chuyện tình thế kỉ mới, Tàn Tuyết đã đến tận cùng của chính cốt lõi vấn đề, về sự thành thực, về khát khao sống… để đem nó gần lại với mục đích muôn thủa của văn chương – làm nên thứ văn chương “thuần túy” trong những “thể nghiệm” của nghệ thuật viết.

Và bởi những khát khao sống, nên lịch sử là điều mà các nhân vật không hề mong muốn. Từ trong sâu thẳm của bản thân họ, quá khứ vẫn luôn để lại vết sẹo hằn chứa, từ đó lịch sử rối loạn tạo nên những nỗi bất an không thôi ám ảnh. Họ chỉ hiện tồn trong một khoảnh khắc, để sống là mình và rồi tan biến. Do đó dù cho là những lịch sử về các “cánh chim tình yêu” tìm đến khát vọng cao cả, thì họ cũng không mong muốn mình được ghi lại.

Với Những chuyện tình thế kỉ mới, Tàn Tuyết đã tạo được nên một tác phẩm ấn tượng, độc đáo trong thế giới quan của riêng mình bà. Bằng cách viết phân mảnh, giải cấu trúc cũng như đến gần với sự giải thể bản thể, với những đời sống tâm linh… bà đã tạo ra một cõi đời khác, không biên giới, không neo đậu… để cho thấy rằng khát khao vươn đến tự do là điều mà bất cứ ai cũng đều mong muốn, mặc cho lịch sử có thể ghi lại, mặc cho tình yêu có thể tan biến.

Bài đầy đủ: http://vannghequandoi.com.vn/the-gioi...

[Dana Iacomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

,,Tu îmi dai senzația că mă aflu într-o pădurice. În timp ce o străbat, peste tot sunt frunze pufoase care îmi ating fața și parcă ar încerca să-mi spună ceva. Atunci îmi zic în sinea mea: ,,Asta este fericirea.””

Dragostea în noul mileniu e o carte atipică, stranie, cu accente fantasy și atmosferă onirică. Nu e genul de lectură pe gustul tuturor, dar tocmai ,,ciudățenia” ei m-a fascinat și m-a ținut prinsă în paginile ei.

Cartea urmărește poveștile mai multor femei dintr-o comunitate chineză, unele dintre ele lucrând inițial la o țesătorie, dar ajunse, din sărăcie sau constrângere, să se prostitueze, iar prin firele acestor destine care se întretaie subtil, autoarea conturează o lume dură, dar poetică, plină de simboluri și rupturi de real.Deși aparent bizară și fragmentată, cartea are o profunzime aparte, mie mi s-a părut că, dincolo de toate rupturile, traumele și alegerile lor, personajele nu făceau altceva decât să caute, fiecare în felul ei, dragostea sinceră și vindecătoare.

M-a surprins plăcut și stilul scriiturii lui Can Xue, are ceva liric, intens și hipnotic, cu fraze care curg neobișnuit, dar pline de atmosferă. Scrie bine, fără să explice prea mult, dar reușind totuși să transmită emoție și mister.Nu e o poveste clasică cu început și sfârșit clar, însă modul cum oamenii caută iubirea și libertatea, faptul că e o lectură neconvențională și ciudată, dar cu o forță aparte m-a convins să îi ofer 4⭐️.

[Ward Khobiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

"دعي النافذة مفتوحة! فالجبل ليس ساكنًا، الليل هو وقت نشاطه!"

مباغتاتٌ فقط، الحدث مبنيٌّ على هذا الأساس، إن افترضنا وجودًا لحدث بمعناه الذي يتسلل لذهن الراغب بحدث. فالحدث هنا يدٌ تتلمسُ كتفك فجأة وأنت جالسٌ أعلى التلّة وفي ذات اللحظة تلتفت لتواجه حائطًا بدّدَ وراءه أي أفق، هو حائط ابن عمك.. في قريتك.. مسقط رأسك، وعشاقك أيضًا ستصادفهم في أي مكان، تسمع أصواتًا لأناس مختلفين وفي آن معًا، الشريط/ الخيط بين الحلم والواقع والخيال متداع وشفاف، الثلاثة وجوهٌ لعنصر واحد تجهل كُنهه أيضًا.

في هذه الرواية تتشارك أنت وأبطالها حيرتهم الوجودية وشكل حبهم في القرن الجديد، الحب القلق العنيف المتبدّل الصادق الكاذب الخاضع لكل لحظة شكّ وخوف وذكرى سعيدة وحزينة.

الرواية تترك القارئ محتارًا أو حتى تبتدئه بهذه الطريقة، فهي رواية تُطالبك بعيش اللحظة وشعورها الآنيّ، والابتعاد عن أسئلة أو محاولة فهم، لأن ذلك سيسبب عسرًا ما بين هذه العلاقة التشاركية؛ علاقة القارئ مع كتابه أو بمعنى أقرب للمثال هنا الكتاب مع قارئه.

اقرأ واسترخِ واشعر وتذوّق وشُمّ وتلمّس واختبر شعورًا جميلًا وآخر أليم، شعور للحظة للسكون للصمت للبكاء وطبعًا للجنون وتمظهراته.

الرواية بعيدة عن أي مطالبات، أو أي توقعات وشروط مسبقة أو مطالبات فهم، وفيها فصول بعينها عبارة عن تمرينات في التأمل والجمال.

رواية لهواة الضياع.

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is something about Love in the New Millennium that I was not able to connect with. Out of the entire Man Booker International longlisted books for 2019, this is the one that I struggled the most with. It was not because of the unlikeable characters or toxic relationships, there was just something that did not work. I spent a lot of time wondering if I felt disconnected from the cultural aspects of this novel, but I have come to the conclusion that me and Can Xue do not agree, or at least with this book.

The premise of this book is basically love stories of the new millennium. It is a collection of interconnected stories that center around a few different characters. Love in the New Millennium is meant to be an exploration into modern day romance, dating and relationships, however there is nothing inherently modern about this novel. Has the author adopted same for a magical realism where modern people are living in a world void of technology? I do not remember a single mention of the internet or cell phones in the entire book. I know this a Chinese novel, so culturally things are different, but I find it hard to believe that technology does not play a part in their lives. Can Xue is 66 years old, so it felt like she did not truly understand how young people live.

“People like us, more dead than alive, always indecisive.”

Having said that, this book was packaged as a dark comical look at a group of women living in a world of constant surveillance. I went into this thinking maybe this will be an exploration into women living in a world of social media. An Orwellian look at dating in the computer age. However, this book feels more like Middlemarch in a sense that it is not the surveillance cameras that people have to worry about, it is the gossip from other people.

The main problem with Love in the New Millennium for me what probably the fact that I built this book up differently in my head. Generally I prefer not to know too much about the books I plan to read, but since this was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, as well as the BTBA, I felt like I needed to know more about this book in order to join in on the conversations before actually reading it. I was hoping for a satirical look into dating in the new millennium, as well as some insights into modern day China, but this novel delivered none of that.

“Before entering a dream, she thought, a little enviously, they must be so happy. In her dream, she heard the couple outside referring to her as “the orphan.” When she heard these two syllables, or—phan, her tears rolled down in waves, soaking the pillow. Her dreamscape was passionate, with two silvery forms always floating around her. She saw milkvetch all around, honeybees everywhere, to her right the houses of the disappearing village, and the maple leaves burning like fire.”

Having said all that, there is this weird dream-like, almost surreal quality to the novel that played a small factor in not abandoning this book completely. My main reason for sticking to the book was because it was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize. The writing was never really bad, Annelise Finegan Wasmoen did a great job of translating this into English. For me, my main verdict came down to the subject matter and my disappointment in not exploring these very important issues. There are so many different socio-political, philosophical and psychological avenues that were left unexplored.

When Can Xue is blurbed as the “most important novelist working in China today” and is also known as an avant-garde writer, I expected something more from Love in the New Millennium. She is also a literary critic who has written about Dante, Jorge Luis Borges, and Franz Kafka, so you cannot judge me for expecting so much more. Love in the New Millennium left me wanting a very different book, and I think that might have been what disappointed me the most about this novel. I have no idea why it made the longlist for both the Man Booker International Prize and the Best Translated Book Award, but clearly others see something in this book that I could not see.

This review originally appeared on Translated Lit: http://translatedlit.com/reviews/revi...

[❦Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 & en halv ⭐️


Okej så ja jag kanske skummläste sista tredjedelen men tänker räkna det ändå. Tror verkligen jag hade gillat den mer om jag hade läst den självmant o inte försökt cramma 400 sidor på en kväll inför seminarium dagen därpå… gillar magisk realism! och surrealism! Älskar hur boklogiken fungerar precis som min drömlogik, hela boken kändes verkligen som en av mina notes app sammanfattningar av en sjuk dröm jag haft. Liiite för lång och jag brydde mig tyvärr inte om alla karaktärerna lika mkt (farbror wei.. host host). Solid!

[Iza Csercsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Promițătoare la început, însă de pe la 1/3 deja te pierde, când ajungi la jumătatea ei deja nu mai înțelegi nimic, un mare haos și o învârteală a personajelor și faptelor, se mai adaugă din când în când random un personaj ce are legătură cu altele din trecut, dar care de fapt nu leagă nimic cu sens. Nu am terminat-o, nu m-a făcut deloc curioasă, m-a amețit doar

[rakel sandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Min frontallob e int tillräckligt utvecklad fö att uppskatta eller förstå mig på den här tyvärr. Smärtsam läsning

[Simona · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a surrealistic plotless story about love and loneliness, full of dreams, magic realism, bizarre dialogues/situations, ghosts, told through more or less connected, but deeply lonely, characters, which are in constant search for love, exploration of their roots and meaning of the life. I didn’t like it... it’s just too much experimental (to the point of senseless) for me. The only positive thing that I can say is - some passages are humorous.

[Helmi Chikaoui]

تقول تسان شيه في حوار معها حول روايتها الحب في القرن الجديد : " كتب الرواية في مدة تزيد عن عام، وتقريبا هي المدة نفسها التي كتب فيها كلا من رواياتي. أكتب كل يوم ساعة واحدة فقط، وأقل من ألف رمز. كما أنني أكتب بخط اليد ولا أستخدم الكومبيوتر، وهذا سريع. رواية «الحب في القرن الجديد» هي «كتابة تلقائية»، وما يسمى «الكتابة التلقائية»، هي الكتابة من دون تصور ممسبق، تطلق العنان لأفكارك، بالضبط مثل فنون الأداء، حالما يبدأ، يتحرك القلم تلقائية، وتشكل اللغة مستوياتها وتراكيبها الخاصة، لأن ثمة قوة مظلمة تتحرك داخلي وتقود جسدي. لذلك لم أفكر مطلقا في أي بداية أو نهاية، كل شيء كان تلقائيا، ولهذا لا يستطيع أحد تقليد أسلوب كتابتي. و«الكتابة التلقائية» ليست سهلة، لأن عليك أن تصقل نفسك باستمرار وليس أن تنظر أكثر من مرة في عملك، فأنا أكتب منذ ثلاثين أو أربعين عاما، وأصبح ماهرة، فلا حاجة إلى أن أزن كلماتي أو أفكر فيها، فما أكتبه بطبيعة الحال هو شعر».

تدور الرواية التي نشرت عام 2013 حول عدد من الرجال والنساء معظمهم أعمارهم متوسطة، أو هم في الغالب غادروا مرحلة الشباب إلى التفكير في مصائرهم النهائية مع أنهم لم يصلوا إلى الشيخوخة، وإذ هم كذلك فإنهم يدخلون في علاقات عاطفية وجسدية متعددة، فيما يبدو كل منهم وكأنه مرآة للآخر، حتى لتظن أن الكاتبة تدير مصائر شخصیات متعددة من منطلق واحد، هو مغزى الحياة في علاقتها بالحب والجنس ومسقط الرأس والعمل والتقاليد الصينية القديمة والطبيعة والطب التقليدي الصيني، وإذ تتشكل الرواية من فصول، فإن كل فصل يعيد الحكاية انطلاقا من شخصية من الشخصيات، وليس بوسعنا إلا أن نقول إن جميع شخصيات الرواية رجالا ونساء هم أبطال في المتن الذي تسرده الكاتبة عن كل شخصية، وتتبدى فيه كذلك مصائر الجميع كلها أو معظمها.

تتحدث الكاتبة عن ماضيها في علاقته بأبطال روايتها، وكأنها تشير إلى أنهم قادمون من القاع الذي أتت هي منه، وتضيف:

أنا مولعة بمسقط رأسي. نشأت في الجبل أثناء صغري، وتعرضت عائلتي لمحنة، ولم نكن نجد شيئا لنأكله، وكنت آخذ أخوي الصغيرين ونذهب إلى الجبل ونبحث طيلة اليوم عن الأعشاب البرية الصالحة للأكل. الجبل بالنسبة لي کالأم، أنا وهو واحد. بمجرد أن يتاح لي الوقت أرتمي في أحضانه بحثا عن مختلف الوجبات الخفيفة. أحب الطبيعة منذ صغري، هذه طبيعتي، وإيماني، لم يعلمني أحد. ما دام حيوان أو نباتة، فأنا أحبه».


وسوف نلاحظ في الرواية أن ثمة أسماء شخصيات لها معنى نباتات كذلك، مما يعكس تلك البيئة التي تتحدث عنها الكاتبة في مسقط رأسها. كما ألفت النظر هنا إلى أن ترجمة الأسماء في الرواية جاءت استنادا على المنطوق الصوتي للاسم في اللغة الصينية، أو ترجمة معنى الاسم حسبما يقتضيه السياق، وفعل هذا بالاتفاق مع الكاتبة.

وإذ تتحدث الكاتبة عن روايتها «الحب في القرن الجديد»، فإنها تكشف أكثر عما تريد قوله، وإن كان ذلك لا ينفي، بالطبع، المغزى الذي سيخرج به كل قارئ حسب قراءته للرواية... وعلى سبيل المثال، تقول الكاتبة تسان شييه عن مفهومها للحرية:

أكتب عن الحب الحقيقي، الحب الحر. والغرض من الكتابة عن مهنة خاصة هو وضع الشخصيات في حالة بائسة والسماح لهم بأداء الأدوار بأنفسهم. وهذه الحالة اليائسة ليست العالم الحقيقي، لكنها تعكس جوهر العالم الحقيقي. أريد للقراء أن يروا كيف يمكن أن يكون الحب الحر الحقيقي، ربما يكون غير تقليدي، لكنه يظهر جمال الحرية. النساء في الرواية «لونغ سي شيانغ، جين تجو،آسي» كلهن جميلات، وقع في غرامهن الرجال لأنهن حرات، لا لأن أرواحهن حرة فقط، بل أجسادهن كذلك، وهن يمثلن وحدة الروح والجسد».

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- فصل من الرواية

نظرة الطبيب إلى العالم

عاش الطبيب ليو في شبابه فترة جامحة حرة، لكنه رغم ذلك الجموح لم يفقد رشده. كان شخصا صعب الإرضاء، لذا سرعان ما ضجر من هذه الحياة، وخلق لنفسه طريقة أخرى للعيش تتمحور في ظاهرها حول تخصصه الطبي، لكن كان لها في الواقع مدى أرحب من ممارسة الطب. وقد أصبح الآن رجلا وحيدا هادئا وقنوعا. وهذا لا يعني أنه استطاع «ألا ينزعج من النساء في حضنه» كما يقال، ولم يستطع اتباع الأعراف مثلما حدث في علاقته بشياو يوان. لكن حياته الفريدة كانت قد خلقت بالفعل. كانت عيادته البسيطة في مقاطعة العش معلمة صغيرة، حيث يأتيه الناس لأجل تخفيف ألم أجسادهم وأرواحهم. وقد عانى بنفسه بشدة منذ أكثر من عشر سنوات حتى كاد ألا يرغب في العيش.


كان يرتدي معطف المختبر الأبيض من الفجر إلى المغيب تقريبا كل يوم، حتى لو ذهب إلى الجبل ليقطف الأعشاب الطبية، لذا كان دائما يتعثر بالأغصان. وبسبب عمله الدؤوب، كان أهالي مقاطعة العش ينظرون إليه بإعجاب وتقدير. وإلى جانب علاقته بالمرضى، كان لديه بعض العلاقات الغامضة بالعالم خارج المقاطعة؛ إذ يزوره عدة غرباء على الأقل مرتين في العام، ويمكثون في النزل القريب من العيادة، ثم يذهبون برفقته إلى الجبل سيرا على الأقدام. يرحلون بعد يومين. وحين سأل أحدهم الطبيب عنهم، قال إنهم زملاء يأتون لإيصال اللوازم الطبية. وقال أحد المتطفلين الذي تبعهم إنهم مملون للغاية، يتسلقون الجبل بدأب وبصمت. وبعد وصولهم إلى القمة، يجلسون لبعض الوقت على صخرة ضخمة شاردي النظرات. ربما يراقبون ذاك النسر؟ ثم يهبطون الجبل. وقال المتطفل، إنه من النادر أن نرى أشخاصة مملين إلى هذه الدرجة! كانت أحاديث السيد ليو في عيون الأهالي مفعمة بالظرافة.

كان منهج الطبيب ليو بسيطا، ورغم براعته في تخفيف الألم، إلا أنه لم يقطع أي وعود لمرضاه. وبسبب منهجه الطبي هذا، كان أهالي المقاطعة يفضلون الذهاب إلى عيادته على الذهاب إلى المستشفيات الكبيرة. «ما فائدة المستشفيات الكبيرة؟ إن مرضنا لا شفاء منه، لا نريد سوى تخفيف الألم»، هكذا قال الجميع. وكانوا يرون أن ذهابهم إلى الطبيب ليو للعلاج أرخص وأكثر فاعلية. ورغم أنه طبيب يعتمد على الطب الغربي، فقد درس طب الأعشاب الصيني لفترة طويلة. وكان يشعر أن عالما جديدا في طب الأعشاب الصينية لم يكتشف بعد، وهذا العالم ينمو مثل جسد الإنسان، تربط بينهما علاقة خفية. وكان مستخلص الأعشاب الطبية الذي يصنعه يلقى قبولا كبيرا.

إذا، ماذا كانت تعني الأعشاب الطبية بالنسبة للطبيب ليو؟ يبدو جليا أنها لم تكن مواد طبية فحسب، بل كانت تحمل معنى أشد عمقا. كان أحيانا يمد يديه في الهواء أثناء الليل ويلمس نباتات مزغبة، فيما يبدو أنها نمت على جدار به الكثير من الكوى المجوفة. كان يبيت أحيانا في الجبل ليختبر خصائص نبتة ما، وينام وسط الأحراج، ويلصق أذنيه بالأرض. وسمع ذات مرة ارتجاف نبتة أرديسيا، فانتابه حماس، وظن أنها تفرز مادة ما مضادة للالتهابات.

أيها الطبيب ليو، صف لي دواء قويا، أريد التخلص من آلام عظامي!»، قال أحد المرضى كبار السن.

- عليك أن تتحلى بالصبر! إن تناول الأعشاب الطبية مثل نباتات تزرع في جسدك، عليك أن تدع جذورها تتأصل داخلك، وهذا أيضا مؤلم جدا. عليك أن تترك الألم الآتي يزيل الألم السابق!

- أيها الطبيب، لقد جعلني كلامك أسترخي ولم أتناول الدواء بعد.

حدق العجوز في الفراغ، وكأنه يرى عشبة طبية عجيبة تنمو، وخطر بباله: «إن أعشاب الطبيب ليو الطبية تنمو من أجلي». وانتبه إلى معطف الطبيب الأبيض المغطى بشتى أنواع البذور التي تمد رؤوسها لتستكشف الأرجاء

في عالم الطبيب ليو المظلم، ينمو الإنسان والنباتات معا. وتلك النباتات الكثيفة، وخاصة جذورها وبذورها، تسبب أحيانا الاختناق. وحين يحدث ذلك، لا بد للبشر أن يحلقوا، لكن البشر لا يستطيعون التحليق بالفعل، بل يظلون عالقين في السماء القريبة جدا للأرض، وأجسادهم مغطاة بالبذور، مزهوين ومتألمين، راغبين في التحليق أعلى وأن يهبطوا إلى الأرض.

منذ فترة طويلة، سمع الطبيب ليو بشكل مبهم عن الترابط العظيم للعالم. وكانت المجموعة الأولى التي جاءت إلى مقاطعة العش في أوائل ربیع ذاك العام تتكون من ثلاثة أشخاص، يرتدون أردية سوداء مغطاة ببذور عجيبة. مكثوا يوما ثم رحلوا. شيع الطبيب ليو الظلال الثلاثة السوداء بنظراته وفؤاده مفعم بالمشاعر. وهكذا تم الاتصال منذ تلك الزيارة الأولى، الاتصال بين الشخص والآخر، والاتصال بين النباتات. فكر في أن هذا الترابط يحدث في كل دقيقة وكل ثانية، مثل عمل الرياح. وحين وقف عند باب عيادته حينئذ لاستقبالهم، دخل الثلاثة بصمت خافضين رؤوسهم، وكانت الريح تهب في الخارج تكتنفها أصوات صياح أطفال. وكان ثمة صياح أطفال في فؤاد الطبيب كذلك. جاؤوا ورحلوا، أي بمعنی آخر، خلقوا رابطة ما بين الطبيب ليو في مقاطعة العش، والعالم.

- بدؤوا في زراعة الأعشاب الطبية في حدائق سوجو. لكني أرى أنها خطوة لا داعي لها.

- من الأفضل دائما أن تزرع الأعشاب المستخدمة لأغراض طبية في البراري. الأرض تعرف أي نباتات لا بد أن تنتجها.

- معظم الأنواع النادرة تختفي قبل أن يتاح الوقت لاكتشافها. - كيفما تطور العالم، فالتواصل ضروري دائما.

- لا مناص من القول إن الأعشاب الطبية كانت موجودة قبل البشرية، ومستعدة لظهور البشر.

كانت هذه تعليقات الثلاثة المتشحين بالسواد. كلماتهم أضاءت ووسعت کیان الطبيب الداخلي، وبدأ منذ هذا اليوم في تمييز تلك الرسائل القادمة من الأماكن القصية. وفي ذاك اليوم في جبل العش الذي أمضاه برفقتهم، تطلع معهم إلى البعيد، وامتد في مدى بصرهم جبل تلو الآخر حتى الأفق. وطالع في ليلة اليوم ذاته كتابة عن الطب، وفوجئ بعدة أنواع من نباتات غريبة لاحت في ذهنه، ووضع خصائص نموها ومواقعها الجغرافية. وأطلق على عشبة ذات أوراق رفيعة: «جذامة»، وظل متحمسا طوال الليل بسبب هذه النبتة المتخيلة.

كان مولعا بالعلاج بالإبر إلى جانب الطب الصيني التقليدي. بدا العجوز يو مخيفا عندما جاء إلى عيادته وإبر مغروسة في رأسه. سار بخطوات واسعة رافعا رأسه، يتبعه شابان.


جلس الاثنان في العيادة وتبادلا أطراف الحديث حتى ساعة متأخرة من الليل. قال العجوز يو إنه اكتشف الطبيب ليو من خلال دراسته للعلاج بالوخز بالإبر. وإلا، فكيف حدث هذا التفاعل المتبادل بينه هو الذي يعيش في المدينة، وبين الطبيب ليو الذي يعيش في هذه المقاطعة الصغيرة النائية؟ يرى أن الإبر حين تغوص في الجسد فإنها تغوص في الكون، حتى ولو كان يفصل بينهما الجبال والأنهار، ستتلاشى المسافة في طرفة عين. وتيقن من هذه النقطة بشكل أعمق بعد سنوات طويلة من الممارسة. أراه مساعدان للدكتور ليو إبرة فضية طويلة جدا بطول إنسان. تأثر الطبيب ليو فجأة لدى رؤيته الإبرة وانهمرت دموعه، وشعر بأن عقدة في قلبه قد حلت.

كانت النساء يشكلن موقعا شديد الأهمية في حياة الطبيب ليو، ولكن هذه المكانة تغيرت خلال السنوات الأخيرة. وهذا لا يعني أن�� فقد قدرته على حب النساء، بل لأن اهتمامه فتر بالعلاقات بين الجنسين، وأصبح خاضعة لقدره بشكل ما. كان بإمكانه رؤية النهاية منذ البداية في العلاقات الجسدية، التي كانت تسبب ضررة شديدة لرجل متوسط العمر يمارس الحب. انسل نوع من الفتور إلى داخله مثل أفعى سامة، ورأى أنه مدرك الحياته تماما. وخشي أن النتيجة لن تكون جيدة بصرف النظر عن أي امرأة كان في علاقة معها.. لرجل مثله یری عالما ثلاثي الأبعاد ما إن يفتح عينيه، ويملك رؤية بانورامية شاملة لظاهره وباطنه. لم يخطط في الواقع أن يكون عازبة طيلة عمره، إلا أنه كان يفهم طبعه تماما. وفكر في الأمر من جميع جوانبه، من دون أن ينشئ عائلة إلى الآن.

كانت هناك مريضة جميلة، عالجها من الروماتيزم بالأعشاب الطبية ونتيجة لذلك وقعت في غرامه. كان لها اسم جمیل، دان نيانغ، وعينان مسحوبتان.

علينا أن ننجب أبناء ونعيش حياة طبيعية» - قالت له دان نيانغ في الطابق العلوي أعلى غرفة الفحص- يمكنك أن تكرس جزءا من وقتك للعائلة».

رأي الطبيب ليو أنها على حق، لكن لسبب ما سرت برودة في عموده الفقري. أي نوع من الأزواج سيكون؟ وأي نوع من الآباء سيكون؟ كان مجردا من ثقته بنفسه أمامها، هذه المرأة الجميلة، المستبدة، والمتقدة بالعاطفة. تخيل الطبيب في حلكة الليل شتى مشاهد الحياة العائلية، وجرب أن يدخل نفسه خلالها، لكنه كان يطرد في خزي كل مرة. وتوصل إلى نتيجة مفادها، أن دان نيانغ ستحول حياته إلى فوضى.

تعيش دان نيانغ في مدينة مجاورة، وتستقل دائمة أول قطار في الصباح الباكر لتأتي إليه، وتستقل القطار عصر اليوم التالي وتعود إلى مدينتها. رأت الباب موصدة حين وصلت إلى العيادة ذاك اليوم، وكان هناك إشعار بأن العيادة مغلقة، وكتب الطبيب ليو أسفله بأنه سيغادر لمدة أسبوع. سقطت حقائبها على الأرض، ووقفت مبهوتة، لأنهما تحدثا على الهاتف في الصباح.

- یا آنسة، هل ستلحقين بالقطار؟ شدها عجوز بلحية بيضاء من طرف ثيابها. - أجل، سألحق بالقطار، لا تزال الرحلة الأخيرة متاحة. لم تذعن، واتصلت به في تلك الليلة على هاتفه المحمول.

كان صوته واهنا ورقيقا، والمكالمة تنقطع بين حين وآخر، وكأنه يقف في حقل في الريح.

- دان نيانغ، أنا في الريف. المكان هنا شديد العتمة والمطر يهطل.. لن أستطيع أن أستقل عبارة اليوم، سأشق طريقي عبر النهر.. أعرف أنق لم تنتظريني، وهذا أفضل. هل تسألينني عن رأيي في نفسي؟ أنا جبان، آسف!

أنهت دان نيانغ المكالمة في الظلام، وأيقنت داخلها أن هذا هو الوداع. لقد سد الطريق. ستقرب من حبيبها من الآن فصاعدة من جهة أخرى، وهذا التقرب يشبه انفصالا دائما.

في البداية ظلت تراجع نفسها: ما الخطأ الذي حدث؟ ثم أدركت شيئا فشيئا، أنه كان مقدرا لها السير في طريق الطبيب ليو طوال حياتها، وأن حبها له كان نقطة الانطلاق. لن يراها الطبيب ليو مرة أخرى، لكنه حملها إلى هذا الطريق بلا عودة، وغير حياتها ليا. ورأت أن الوضع مناسب لها في ما يتعلق بمشاعرها. وتذكرت في صغرها حين كانت تستخدم عشبة "الغاثية" للتنجيم، لكم كانت تحمل توقعات كبيرة لنفسها آنذاك ! لكن، لماذا لم تعد تتوقع أي شيء الآن؟

لم يذهب الطبيب ليو إلى الريف، بل كان في الغرفة أعلى عيادته. رأي من بعيد ظل دان نيانغ الراحل، وشعر في اللحظة ذاتها أن قلبه يتحول ببطء إلى أحفورة موغلة في القدم. وخطر بباله أنه استخدم الأعشاب الطبية العلاج هذه المرأة لأجل إقحامها في عالمه. ولم يعرف هل هذا جيد أم سيئ بالنسبة لها، على كل حال هكذا حدث الأمر. تجدد تفكيره بنبات الزراوند، كيف تطورت تلك الأعشاب الجميلة الوحيدة إلى ما هي عليه الآن؟ وما هي العوامل المرتبطة بتأثيرها السحري في البيئة؟ وجعلته مكالمة دان نيانغ في الليل يهذي حقا بأنه في حقل وسیعبر ذاك النهر. كان هذا اليأس كأنه هوة سحيقة. لكن وجوده في هذه الهوة بعث السكينة في نفسه، وبدأ شيء ما في شخصيته يتكشف.


**

"العشاق المؤقتون کالندی هم أفضل شيء".

[Sookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can Xue requires a specific area of your brain that accepts the weird and surreal as is without any question and roll with the story as it progresses. After reading this book slowly, it was still unclear as to what is it the writer wants to convey? Was it the hedonism that exists underneath any uptight society with heavily policed populace? Or was it that there was an independence in the little boundary that one sets to themselves and pursue a career because it "was what seemed right in that moment"?

A plethora of characters come and go, and with a suspension of belief, its easier to accept that there is certain kind of magical realism that does exist in this world where there are spirits that haven't had their end rituals to be put to rest, a monkey that seem to be the employee of a newspaper press except for the other (human) employee, a doctor who passes through these worlds, lovers in a cotton factory and a society that seem to be sitting on this precipice of real and fantastical.

The disjointedness in the narration and characters who appear and disappear and random, made the reading slightly boring. It could also be that I am reading this book completely wrong and have missed the metaphor.
It is what it is.

[Zuwaina · Rating 5 out of 5]

الحب في القرن الجديد للكاتبة الصينية تسَان شُيِّيه وترجمة يارا المصري

رواية مثيرة للفضول، ليست من نوع الروايات التي يقع القارئ في حبها أو يُعجَب بها منذ الوهلة الأولى. تجعله يترجّح بين إقبال عليها وإدبار عنها، لكنه لا بد أن يتحلى بالصبر حتى يألفها شيئًا فشيئًا وهو يقرأ صفحة بعد أخرى حتى يكتشف أنه أمام مشرحة للعلاقات الإنسانية بتعقيداتها الكثيرة والمثيرة للأسئلة. فيها شيء من عبثية بيكيت، وعالم ألس في بلاد العجائب، وسُريالية الأحلام، والواقع الذي يتداخل فيه السحر والسخرية واللا معنى. ثمَّة استعارة -بين الاستعارات العديدة التي تزخر بها الرواية- استخدمتها الكاتبة في أحد فصول الرواية، وهي استعارة الكهف الذي تدخله الشخصيات فتجد غرفًا كثيرة يفضي بعضها إلى بعضها الآخر بلا نهاية، وهكذا تبدو الرواية نفسها وهي تحفر في أعماق شخصياتها وكهوفها المظلمة. شخصيات باحثة عن مسقط رأسها على الدوام. وجدتها رواية تكسر التوقعات وبحاجة إلى التأني والصبر في القراءة. وصلت الرواية إلى قائمة البوكر الطويلة عام ٢٠١٩، وفازت الترجمة المباشرة عن الصينية بجائزة حمد للترجمة والتفاهم الدولي.

[Bia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Não sei o que dizer, só sentir.
Eu, sendo sincera, amei. Foi divertido demais.
É algo completamente diferente do que já li. Tem uma pegada de sonho, sim, mas uma coisa sem pé nem cabeça e é preciso um nível (bem alto, talvez) de abstração para curtir essa viagem.
Um pouco cansativo em alguns momentos, talvez pudesse ser um tantinho menor, mas cara, quero voltar e ler de novo pra ver o que eu perdi, pq esse é um daqueles livros que precisam ser revisitados para captar tudo.
Que mente tem essa senhorinha!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This can best be described as a soap opera with a big cast of characters that are encountered time and again, moving backward and forward through time. Tells the story of Cuilan and Wei Bo's relationship.