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时代三部曲 #1
黄金时代
"本书是王小波的成名作，亦是重写数十次、雕琢二十年的代表作，含《黄金时代》《三十而立》《似水流年》3个篇章，展开主人公“王二”3个不同人生阶段：青年时豪情万丈，以不屑、逃离对抗荒诞的年代；三十而立，努力融入时代的洪流，尽力扮演一个好丈夫、好教师、好公民的角色；年届不惑，往事历历在目，暴毙的何先生、时运不济的李先生、嫁作他人妇的女友……他方意识到，一个人所拥有的一切，不过是这似水流年。
在作者看来，“王二”只是一个符号，由其串联起的故事拥有共同的主题，就是我们的生活。我们正是如此地活着、存在着，所以没有什么比这更宝贵、更值得书写的故事。"
在作者看来，“王二”只是一个符号，由其串联起的故事拥有共同的主题，就是我们的生活。我们正是如此地活着、存在着，所以没有什么比这更宝贵、更值得书写的故事。"
244 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
123 people are currently reading
2482 people want to read
About the author
Wang Xiaobo
104 books157 followersWang Xiaobo (Chinese: 王小波) was a Chinese writer who became famous after his death.
Wang Xiaobo on paper-republic.org.
Wang was born in an intellectual family in Beijing in 1952. He was sent to a farm in Yunnan province as an "intellectual youth" at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1968. In 1971, he was sent to the countryside of Shandong province, and became a teacher. In 1972, he was allowed to return to Beijing, and he got a job as a working in a local factory. He met Li Yinhe in 1977, who was working as an editor for "Guangming Daily", and she later became his wife. He was accepted by Renmin University of China in 1978 where he studied economics and trade and got his Bachelor's Degree. He received his Master's Degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988. After he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University and Renmin University of China. He quit his job as a college lecturer in 1992, and became a freelance writer. On April 11, 1997 he died suddenly of heart disease at his apartment.
Wang Xiaobo on paper-republic.org.
Wang was born in an intellectual family in Beijing in 1952. He was sent to a farm in Yunnan province as an "intellectual youth" at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1968. In 1971, he was sent to the countryside of Shandong province, and became a teacher. In 1972, he was allowed to return to Beijing, and he got a job as a working in a local factory. He met Li Yinhe in 1977, who was working as an editor for "Guangming Daily", and she later became his wife. He was accepted by Renmin University of China in 1978 where he studied economics and trade and got his Bachelor's Degree. He received his Master's Degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988. After he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University and Renmin University of China. He quit his job as a college lecturer in 1992, and became a freelance writer. On April 11, 1997 he died suddenly of heart disease at his apartment.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
August 25, 2022
Kudos to translator Yan Yan. This can't have been easy. Reviews explain that it is a contemporary classic in China, a subversive and radical work. Part of that assessment no doubt stems from the content. Wang pulls no punches in portraying the stupidity and brutality of the Cultural Revolution. There is a lot of sex. Yan had to find English equivalents for what must be a wild ride of Chinese vernacular.
But the form is just as radical. The sex is used to satirize the authorities--that has to be made clear. And Wang twists your mind up trying to keep track of time. Time twists and turns, summersaulting through paragraphs and even a single sentence. Time and again (pun intended) I needed to reread a few lines to figure out where he had just tesseraed to, and whether two different clauses in a sentence belonged to events from 1972 or 1990, or both. Translator Yan handled these contortions deftly.
Actually, the sex is most prominent in the first section. Later the book turns more to satire of academic life and the shock of how intellectuals were suddenly prompted to throw themselves out of windows to avoid what lay ahead of them. I have no doubt that I missed the subtleties of much of the political commentary, and what must have been identifiable caricatures of prominent individuals. Still, no one can miss the hunger, physical suffering, shame, and general disruption of the Cultural Revolution that is pervasive.
But it's not all grim. It's very funny. Our narrator is wildly anti-authoritarian and impulsive. Yet, as Wang Er, the protagonist and narrator, looks back at his youth and around himself now (1990), at his current personal and professional quandaries, he is left with bewilderment and sadness at how such devastation occurred, and what the aftermath looks like.
Recommended.
But the form is just as radical. The sex is used to satirize the authorities--that has to be made clear. And Wang twists your mind up trying to keep track of time. Time twists and turns, summersaulting through paragraphs and even a single sentence. Time and again (pun intended) I needed to reread a few lines to figure out where he had just tesseraed to, and whether two different clauses in a sentence belonged to events from 1972 or 1990, or both. Translator Yan handled these contortions deftly.
Actually, the sex is most prominent in the first section. Later the book turns more to satire of academic life and the shock of how intellectuals were suddenly prompted to throw themselves out of windows to avoid what lay ahead of them. I have no doubt that I missed the subtleties of much of the political commentary, and what must have been identifiable caricatures of prominent individuals. Still, no one can miss the hunger, physical suffering, shame, and general disruption of the Cultural Revolution that is pervasive.
But it's not all grim. It's very funny. Our narrator is wildly anti-authoritarian and impulsive. Yet, as Wang Er, the protagonist and narrator, looks back at his youth and around himself now (1990), at his current personal and professional quandaries, he is left with bewilderment and sadness at how such devastation occurred, and what the aftermath looks like.
Recommended.
January 10, 2021
كلام فاضي
August 13, 2022
This is one of the funniest novels I've read, full of vulgarity and extremely dark humor. I also love any audiobook read by the talented Brian Nishii, and the gift of Yan Yan's translation of this in 2022 made this a must read for me.
This book spirals around the lives of people that the protagonist Wang Er has known and collected stories from over decades. When you get to the bottom of one character fully, the author zooms out and jumps into another person and makes them real by spinning yarn after yarn.
Mandatory reading for those like me trying to understand the violence and aftermath of the cultural revolution, but who are, like the protagonist Wang Er, silly, lazy, slacker-ish brutes who prefer to have the truth served with a spoonful of satirical sugar and plenty of chaos.
One thing that's worth saying, and you can fight me later, is that for all the T&A, there's also a lot of a) plain old love and b) male full frontal nudity. I'm not going to say this passes the Bechdel test since this is characterization stitched together with horny hijinx rather than a fully built world. It's on par with a 2022 HBO show in terms of it's portrayal of sex and women and I'd say that's key because it was written a few decades ago. I think it holds up fine. I found the protagonist refreshing in his dealing with women. He reminds me of the more desirable men I know who have always had close friends who are women. He writes women characters who embrace sex scarily well. And dare I say, there's some love here amongst all the romps, though it comes out so gently that it's somehow more touching than I'd planned for it to be. I expected this not to be regressive, mostly since I knew Wang Xiaobo acquainted many with LGBTQIA love and life in China in other works.
Is this work literary? Yes, confirmed by millions since the 90s who are more concerned why you would expect it not to be based on its appearance in translation and its lasting popularity. I refer you to the introduction. Wang Xiaobo writes brilliantly.
Does it also have the phrase "silly cunts" and extended jokes about one guy being kicked in the groin? Yes. Yes, it does. Irreverent but not tawdry in my opinion, but, to be fair, I was also, like the protagonist, raised outside of accepted practices of decorum.
This book spirals around the lives of people that the protagonist Wang Er has known and collected stories from over decades. When you get to the bottom of one character fully, the author zooms out and jumps into another person and makes them real by spinning yarn after yarn.
Mandatory reading for those like me trying to understand the violence and aftermath of the cultural revolution, but who are, like the protagonist Wang Er, silly, lazy, slacker-ish brutes who prefer to have the truth served with a spoonful of satirical sugar and plenty of chaos.
One thing that's worth saying, and you can fight me later, is that for all the T&A, there's also a lot of a) plain old love and b) male full frontal nudity. I'm not going to say this passes the Bechdel test since this is characterization stitched together with horny hijinx rather than a fully built world. It's on par with a 2022 HBO show in terms of it's portrayal of sex and women and I'd say that's key because it was written a few decades ago. I think it holds up fine. I found the protagonist refreshing in his dealing with women. He reminds me of the more desirable men I know who have always had close friends who are women. He writes women characters who embrace sex scarily well. And dare I say, there's some love here amongst all the romps, though it comes out so gently that it's somehow more touching than I'd planned for it to be. I expected this not to be regressive, mostly since I knew Wang Xiaobo acquainted many with LGBTQIA love and life in China in other works.
Is this work literary? Yes, confirmed by millions since the 90s who are more concerned why you would expect it not to be based on its appearance in translation and its lasting popularity. I refer you to the introduction. Wang Xiaobo writes brilliantly.
Does it also have the phrase "silly cunts" and extended jokes about one guy being kicked in the groin? Yes. Yes, it does. Irreverent but not tawdry in my opinion, but, to be fair, I was also, like the protagonist, raised outside of accepted practices of decorum.
dnf
October 10, 2023sick of men who can't write about women !! this was worse than murakami and stephen king (and these were already BAD bad)
December 19, 2024
I read a Penguin volume of Wang's essays a few months back to try and work out what the fuss was all about, and while they're good, intelligent examples of good (rather than bad) liberalism, there didn't seem like there was much more going on. But within 20 pages or so of this it's quite obvious that you're in the presence of something very special indeed, although in quite an unexpected way. That is: I don't think people really do 'Bawdy' nowadays (is this because of the Bad Sex Award?, or terrible British examples of the form?), but this shows why maybe they should, both a ten-out-of-ten masterpiece of modernist fiction, elliptical, extremely clever, acutely humane, and absolutely A Bawdy Novel.
May 21, 2024
To my shame, I had not heard of this book, and picked up the new Penguin paperback edition in a UK bookshop because of the enticing cover art from the painter Lui Kongxi. As I read it, thinking, this is amazing and wonderful, I did the research and found out that it is a classic, still a best seller in China, thirty years after its publication there in 1994 (it was first published in Taiwan in 1992). Its author was dead at 44, three years later. In the three linked novellas, Wang Xiabo's alter ego, Wang Er (Wang 2), has nothing but contempt for revolutionary re-education and the party line. Wang Er's interest is in sex and the freedom required to pursue it, and after that the intellectual independence that comes with that freedom. To that end, in the first novella Wang Er skips the re-education farm for the wild hills to enjoy his seduction of his female doctor in a shack. Sure, there are consequences and beatings, but he remains resourceful and unbowed. The officials charged with punishing them end up encouraging the affair, so as to read the juicy confessions. All this is fast and funny, and subversive, and nothing like the received ideas of the Cultural Revolution. His story continues in the following novellas, as he miraculously holds on to an academic job, while getting away with all manner of bad behaviour not permitted by the oppressive party powers. Wang Er has energy, courage, charm, intelligence, and an unstoppable libido. Those less blessed, however, drop around him, lives traumatised and ruined by official ruthlessness.
Think, Catch 22 with the Chinese Communist Party replacing the US army. So, a great and entertaining read, and a heart-rending insight into the human cost of a clumsy revolutionary transformation. It was something of a relief to know that its author lived free and acclaimed, and unlike many of his characters, died of natural causes, though far too young.
Think, Catch 22 with the Chinese Communist Party replacing the US army. So, a great and entertaining read, and a heart-rending insight into the human cost of a clumsy revolutionary transformation. It was something of a relief to know that its author lived free and acclaimed, and unlike many of his characters, died of natural causes, though far too young.
January 16, 2023
This is a translation of the first 3 out of 5 novellas which comprise the original Chinese-language publication 黄金时代 (Beijing: Huaxia, 1994): "Golden Age" (黄金时代); "At Thirty, A Man" (三十而立); "Years as Water Flow" (似水流年).
["Golden Age" was previously published in a different English translation (by Jason Sommer and Hongling Zhang) in the collection Wang in Love and Bondage (SUNY Press, 2007).]
The 4th novella, "Love in an Age of Revolution" (革命时代的爱情 / 革命时期的爱情), is available to read in English translation at The MCLC Resource Center, the online face of the print journal Modern Chinese Literature and Culture.
I do not know if the 5th novella, 我的阴阳两界, roughly translated as "My Ying and Yang Worlds" or "My Two Boundaries of Ying and Yang," is available in English translation.
["Golden Age" was previously published in a different English translation (by Jason Sommer and Hongling Zhang) in the collection Wang in Love and Bondage (SUNY Press, 2007).]
The 4th novella, "Love in an Age of Revolution" (革命时代的爱情 / 革命时期的爱情), is available to read in English translation at The MCLC Resource Center, the online face of the print journal Modern Chinese Literature and Culture.
I do not know if the 5th novella, 我的阴阳两界, roughly translated as "My Ying and Yang Worlds" or "My Two Boundaries of Ying and Yang," is available in English translation.
July 1, 2023
Not being typically drawn to satire, there were moments I wasn't sure about this book. Yet the fact that it was set during the Cultural Revolution in China and written by someone who had lived through it, made me curious as to what the author had to say. Through the satire, slowly started to emerge beautiful expressions of individuality, friendship and purpose in life, despite all that the characters had to endure.
Having just read Proust's masterpiece, I was delighted to come across a discussion about how translators have debated translating his title: A la recherche du temps perdu. The author puts forward this suggest, 'Years as Water Flow', which forms the title of the third and last section of his book. Having read this, I started to see parallel's with Proust's work, from the first person male protagonist, to the use of memories from across several decades of the hero's life, and even his sexual pursuits and possessiveness. There were lots of funny moments along the way, with what I thought was a quite profound conclusion.
In the end I realize this is a book that deserves rereading, and promises to yield more and more to those who give it the time and attention it deserves. Recognizing that I am so grateful for the recent translation into English and for the opportunity to have become acquainted with it.
Having just read Proust's masterpiece, I was delighted to come across a discussion about how translators have debated translating his title: A la recherche du temps perdu. The author puts forward this suggest, 'Years as Water Flow', which forms the title of the third and last section of his book. Having read this, I started to see parallel's with Proust's work, from the first person male protagonist, to the use of memories from across several decades of the hero's life, and even his sexual pursuits and possessiveness. There were lots of funny moments along the way, with what I thought was a quite profound conclusion.
In the end I realize this is a book that deserves rereading, and promises to yield more and more to those who give it the time and attention it deserves. Recognizing that I am so grateful for the recent translation into English and for the opportunity to have become acquainted with it.
January 29, 2022
Sex as Both Collaboration and Resistance
Consider Heller's "Catch 22", or J.P. Donleavy's "The Ginger Man", or any of your other favorite absurdist anti-establishment novels. Sex, alcohol, irony, and deadpan wit illuminate and undermine political, social, authoritarian, bureaucratic, and military repression.
I had my doubts about whether a novel published in 1992 by an obscure, (at the time), Chinese writer was going to be able to make much of a dent in the madness of China's Cultural Revolution. Well rest assured that this bold novel, (really more of a story collection), that mixes sex, defiance, farce, and low humor into an absurd love story, manages to work both as an entertainment and as a fascinating metaphor for China during the last half of the Twentieth Century.
In style, in substance, in its meandering charm, and in its subtle and sneaky impact, this book is a remarkable find and a valuable contribution to the literature of what can only be called "bemused resistance".
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
Consider Heller's "Catch 22", or J.P. Donleavy's "The Ginger Man", or any of your other favorite absurdist anti-establishment novels. Sex, alcohol, irony, and deadpan wit illuminate and undermine political, social, authoritarian, bureaucratic, and military repression.
I had my doubts about whether a novel published in 1992 by an obscure, (at the time), Chinese writer was going to be able to make much of a dent in the madness of China's Cultural Revolution. Well rest assured that this bold novel, (really more of a story collection), that mixes sex, defiance, farce, and low humor into an absurd love story, manages to work both as an entertainment and as a fascinating metaphor for China during the last half of the Twentieth Century.
In style, in substance, in its meandering charm, and in its subtle and sneaky impact, this book is a remarkable find and a valuable contribution to the literature of what can only be called "bemused resistance".
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
July 6, 2025
הספר עצמו לא עשה עלי רושם גדול, חלקו היה משעמם וחלקו לא הבנתי.
אחרית הדבר היתה מרתקת ועזרה לי להבין טוב יותר את מה שקראתי לפניה.
אחרית הדבר היתה מרתקת ועזרה לי להבין טוב יותר את מה שקראתי לפניה.
March 27, 2022
Básicamente este librito nos habla de una relación sentimental entre un hombre y una mujer durante la famosa revolución cultural china.
Podemos resumirlo en sexo, sexo, sexo, confesiones, sexo, sexo, más confesiones, sexo, sexo, reeducación, sexo, sexo, más confesiones.
Es bastante falocentrico, la verdad.
Pero bueno, el trasfondo de la historia te hace ver lo ridículo, cruel y sinsentido que fue toda esa barbaridad y persecución de la época.
¿Me ha gustado? Meh, tiene cosillas que sí y otras que no. ¿Lo recomendaría? No a todo el mundo, el tema recurrente del pene y la eyaculación es un poco cansino a veces. Pero está bien escrito, aunque es algo lento.
Podemos resumirlo en sexo, sexo, sexo, confesiones, sexo, sexo, más confesiones, sexo, sexo, reeducación, sexo, sexo, más confesiones.
Es bastante falocentrico, la verdad.
Pero bueno, el trasfondo de la historia te hace ver lo ridículo, cruel y sinsentido que fue toda esa barbaridad y persecución de la época.
¿Me ha gustado? Meh, tiene cosillas que sí y otras que no. ¿Lo recomendaría? No a todo el mundo, el tema recurrente del pene y la eyaculación es un poco cansino a veces. Pero está bien escrito, aunque es algo lento.
June 25, 2025
Wang Xiaobo’s Golden Age opens with Wang Er, a young man from Beijing exiled to a rural commune in Yunnan during the height of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. There, in between tending oxen and attending re-education meetings, he falls into a clandestine and often farcical affair with Chen Qingyang, a slightly older doctor who, like him, seems adrift in the grand theatre of Maoist China. Their relationship is eventually exposed, not through tragedy but through absurd public “struggle sessions” that Wang Er turns into something closer to surreal performance art than genuine repentance.
The novel meanders, much like memory itself, moving from Wang Er’s early days in the countryside to his later life as a university lecturer in Beijing, and finally to an older version of himself, looking back on what it meant to live under a system that tried to script both love and shame. The people he encounters along the way, the women he desires, the teachers he disdains, the intellectuals he watches come undone, serve not so much as foils or figures of morality, but as silhouettes moving in and out of history’s overheated stage.
What makes interestingly subversive isn’t just the irreverent take on Maoist rituals or the frankness of its erotic moments (although there’s plenty of both), but the voice of Wang Er as the narrator (with frequent "Wang Er's note"): earthy, intelligent, dryly amused. Wang Er doesn’t rage against the absurdities of ideology. He observes, reflects and sometimes shrugs. Even his “little monk” becomes a symbol of resistance, less political manifesto than a refusal to give in to scripted performances of shame.
Reading this feels like having a conversation with someone who decided that if they couldn’t escape the machinery of history, at least they could laugh at it, desire through it, and write it all down in a voice that refuses to be tamed. Setting morality aside, this novel offers an alternative and interesting POV on Maoist China and the consequences of historical events on individuals.
The novel meanders, much like memory itself, moving from Wang Er’s early days in the countryside to his later life as a university lecturer in Beijing, and finally to an older version of himself, looking back on what it meant to live under a system that tried to script both love and shame. The people he encounters along the way, the women he desires, the teachers he disdains, the intellectuals he watches come undone, serve not so much as foils or figures of morality, but as silhouettes moving in and out of history’s overheated stage.
What makes interestingly subversive isn’t just the irreverent take on Maoist rituals or the frankness of its erotic moments (although there’s plenty of both), but the voice of Wang Er as the narrator (with frequent "Wang Er's note"): earthy, intelligent, dryly amused. Wang Er doesn’t rage against the absurdities of ideology. He observes, reflects and sometimes shrugs. Even his “little monk” becomes a symbol of resistance, less political manifesto than a refusal to give in to scripted performances of shame.
Reading this feels like having a conversation with someone who decided that if they couldn’t escape the machinery of history, at least they could laugh at it, desire through it, and write it all down in a voice that refuses to be tamed. Setting morality aside, this novel offers an alternative and interesting POV on Maoist China and the consequences of historical events on individuals.
Read
March 15, 2020ذوقي القرائي يمنعني من مواصلة القراءة، ولذلك سوف أتوقف عند الصفحة 92 وبدون أن أقيمها...
January 9, 2025
Terrível.
Se vou ler propaganda anti-comunista o mínimo é que esteja bem escrita. Se bebesse um grolo de álcool cada vez que autor fala do seu caralho -porque o protagonista é basicamente o autor- remataria num coma etílico depois de dous capítulos.
Se a intenção era convencer-me de que a Revolução Cultural foi necessária e que pessoas coma o protagonista -um ser deleznável, que antagoniza os vizinhos da vila, bate em crianças, maltrata animais e denigra mulheres com "lógica" para se deitarem com ele- mereciam a re-educação então missão feita!
Se vou ler propaganda anti-comunista o mínimo é que esteja bem escrita. Se bebesse um grolo de álcool cada vez que autor fala do seu caralho -porque o protagonista é basicamente o autor- remataria num coma etílico depois de dous capítulos.
Se a intenção era convencer-me de que a Revolução Cultural foi necessária e que pessoas coma o protagonista -um ser deleznável, que antagoniza os vizinhos da vila, bate em crianças, maltrata animais e denigra mulheres com "lógica" para se deitarem com ele- mereciam a re-educação então missão feita!
February 6, 2023
No me ha gustado.
La sinopsis, y el epílogo escrito por el traductor, nos habla de una historia de amor entre un hombre y una mujer durante una época convulsa como lo son los primeros años de la Revolución Cultural en China. Se trata de una novela con tintes en parte autobiográficos, en los que Wang Er, el protagonista, es destinado a una brigada de trabajo en una granja/aldea a los pies de unas montañas, donde va a conocer a Chen Qungyang, que es médico de otra brigada, y con la que va a iniciar una relación adúltera, basada en una "gran amistad"...
Pues bien... Yo no he visto la historia de amor por ninguna parte. Es más, tampoco la amistad, si me apuras, más allá del eufemismo...
Me parece una relación "tóxica" en la que se muestra, una vez más, a la mujer de forma caótica y obsesiva, que se comporta de modo incoherente, en una lucha constante entre negar las acusaciones que la tachan de golfa, y sus propios impulsos sexuales (lo cual podría estar bien, y dar profundidad a la trama, si no fuera porque se queda ahí y no aporta nada más, a parte de el hecho de ir, yendo y viviendo, sin ninguna explicación, detrás de un hombre que no la trata bien...).
A su vez, y por lo que al protagonista se refiere, la novela se centra prácticamente en su pene (hasta resultar repetitivo: incómodo, por un lado, y cansino, por otro). Este se considera a sí mismo un canalla, sin más, y durante toda la obra nos muestra que todo le da igual y que, efectivamente, entabla amistad con lo mejorcito de cada casa...
La obra transcurre, pues, entre idas y venidas, sin sentido, que no nos dicen nada; confesiones y humillaciones públicas, que se repiten constantemente y que quedan en nada; y otras reflexiones vacías, que no complementan en nada a la historia... (A mi parecer)
Es cierto que está bien escrita. Pero ya.
Por mi parte, salvo por el hecho de que el autor busca incomodar con el tema del sexo, y creo que lo logra (en una época en la que China tenía un enorme tabú en este sentido) (El traductor utiliza la palabra "asexual" para referirse a este período de la historia de China, pero creo que sea un buen empleo del término, sinceramente)... No he visto ninguna de las otras ideas que se le atribuyen (libertad, desarrollo cultural, e incluso el papel de la mujer, el cual, aunque se la sitúa desde un comienzo como con un rol "superior" al del protagonista, pues esta es médico y él tiene que recurrir a ella para que le ayude... Desde el primer momento esta se comporta de forma extraña...: A veces con iniciativa propia, pero otras como si estuviera a su sombra; tratándosela, durante toda la obra, de un modo paternalista...).
Ya el tema del maltrato animal gratuito y sin sentido de las primeras páginas, hizo que empezase mal la novela... Pero lo que viene después, me hizo querer abandonarla en varias ocasiones... Son 130 y poco páginas que se me hicieron eternas... Le doy 2 estrellas y no 1 porque tiene algunas anotaciones y frases que la salvan de la quema... Sin más.
La sinopsis, y el epílogo escrito por el traductor, nos habla de una historia de amor entre un hombre y una mujer durante una época convulsa como lo son los primeros años de la Revolución Cultural en China. Se trata de una novela con tintes en parte autobiográficos, en los que Wang Er, el protagonista, es destinado a una brigada de trabajo en una granja/aldea a los pies de unas montañas, donde va a conocer a Chen Qungyang, que es médico de otra brigada, y con la que va a iniciar una relación adúltera, basada en una "gran amistad"...
Pues bien... Yo no he visto la historia de amor por ninguna parte. Es más, tampoco la amistad, si me apuras, más allá del eufemismo...
Me parece una relación "tóxica" en la que se muestra, una vez más, a la mujer de forma caótica y obsesiva, que se comporta de modo incoherente, en una lucha constante entre negar las acusaciones que la tachan de golfa, y sus propios impulsos sexuales (lo cual podría estar bien, y dar profundidad a la trama, si no fuera porque se queda ahí y no aporta nada más, a parte de el hecho de ir, yendo y viviendo, sin ninguna explicación, detrás de un hombre que no la trata bien...).
A su vez, y por lo que al protagonista se refiere, la novela se centra prácticamente en su pene (hasta resultar repetitivo: incómodo, por un lado, y cansino, por otro). Este se considera a sí mismo un canalla, sin más, y durante toda la obra nos muestra que todo le da igual y que, efectivamente, entabla amistad con lo mejorcito de cada casa...
La obra transcurre, pues, entre idas y venidas, sin sentido, que no nos dicen nada; confesiones y humillaciones públicas, que se repiten constantemente y que quedan en nada; y otras reflexiones vacías, que no complementan en nada a la historia... (A mi parecer)
Es cierto que está bien escrita. Pero ya.
Por mi parte, salvo por el hecho de que el autor busca incomodar con el tema del sexo, y creo que lo logra (en una época en la que China tenía un enorme tabú en este sentido) (El traductor utiliza la palabra "asexual" para referirse a este período de la historia de China, pero creo que sea un buen empleo del término, sinceramente)... No he visto ninguna de las otras ideas que se le atribuyen (libertad, desarrollo cultural, e incluso el papel de la mujer, el cual, aunque se la sitúa desde un comienzo como con un rol "superior" al del protagonista, pues esta es médico y él tiene que recurrir a ella para que le ayude... Desde el primer momento esta se comporta de forma extraña...: A veces con iniciativa propia, pero otras como si estuviera a su sombra; tratándosela, durante toda la obra, de un modo paternalista...).
Ya el tema del maltrato animal gratuito y sin sentido de las primeras páginas, hizo que empezase mal la novela... Pero lo que viene después, me hizo querer abandonarla en varias ocasiones... Son 130 y poco páginas que se me hicieron eternas... Le doy 2 estrellas y no 1 porque tiene algunas anotaciones y frases que la salvan de la quema... Sin más.
July 31, 2023
kiedyś takie książki nazywano wulgarnymi wypocinami, pxrnografią literacką,
teraz chyba na żadnym (bardziej oczytanym czytelniku), nie zrobiłyby większego wrażenia soczystością i wigorem swojego języka
do tej pory literaci parający się grzebaniem w strumieniu świadomości do mnie nie docierali,
teraz zaś debatuje ze sobą w tę i we w tę, czy chcę dalej zaczytywać się w monografiach odkrywających wszystkie odniesienia, paralele literackie, szczegóły historyczne i obyczajowe, etc., występujące w tej noweli, czy bardziej wolę pozostać na obecnym poziomie zadowolenia czytelniczego
"Robić coś, a lubić coś to dwie różne sprawy. Pierwsze zasługiwało na wiece walki, drugie na rozerwanie przez pięć koni, czy torturę tysiąca cięć. Ale nikt nie miał władzy, by skazać nas na rozerwanie końmi, więc puszczono nas wolno."
teraz chyba na żadnym (bardziej oczytanym czytelniku), nie zrobiłyby większego wrażenia soczystością i wigorem swojego języka
do tej pory literaci parający się grzebaniem w strumieniu świadomości do mnie nie docierali,
teraz zaś debatuje ze sobą w tę i we w tę, czy chcę dalej zaczytywać się w monografiach odkrywających wszystkie odniesienia, paralele literackie, szczegóły historyczne i obyczajowe, etc., występujące w tej noweli, czy bardziej wolę pozostać na obecnym poziomie zadowolenia czytelniczego
"Robić coś, a lubić coś to dwie różne sprawy. Pierwsze zasługiwało na wiece walki, drugie na rozerwanie przez pięć koni, czy torturę tysiąca cięć. Ale nikt nie miał władzy, by skazać nas na rozerwanie końmi, więc puszczono nas wolno."
Read
January 10, 2025DNF unfortunately, 100 pages in and decided it isn’t worth it. It’s a funny book at times, but I can’t really believe in/get behind the characters. Seems a little vulgar for vulgarity’s sake.
Structure is maddening too. Most paragraphs were the exact same length for a while and all began with “Chen Qingyang said…” The only relief was pretty short chapters.
Stasis abound and didn’t feel like the book was going anywhere, perhaps because of structure.
Structure is maddening too. Most paragraphs were the exact same length for a while and all began with “Chen Qingyang said…” The only relief was pretty short chapters.
Stasis abound and didn’t feel like the book was going anywhere, perhaps because of structure.
December 25, 2021
Ambientada en los inicios de la Revolución Cultural China. Nos habla del sexo, el amor y la vida cotidiana. Me ha resultado una novela corta pero que se lee con bastante interés y te hace empatizar con el protagonista del libro. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 28, 2025
Huh?
It's very rare that I don't get ANYTHING out of a book but I really just didn't get this. Definitely partly my fault as I don't really know anything much about 20th Century China, but this book was boring, rambling, and pointless.
It's very rare that I don't get ANYTHING out of a book but I really just didn't get this. Definitely partly my fault as I don't really know anything much about 20th Century China, but this book was boring, rambling, and pointless.
September 7, 2024
Alle Chinese intellectuele jeugd wordt tijdens hun verplichte periode assisteren op het platteland, in/rondom de Great Leap Forward, overladen met pogingen tot het aanleren van steenharde discipline en wordt daarvoor uiteraard beroofd van alle mogelijke vormen van privacy. zodra wordt ontdekt dat leerlingen onreine ideologieën hebben opgepikt of bij begeerlijke affaires betrokken zijn, worden ze bestempeld als Bad Element en geeft dat de staat het recht om ze het hemd van het lijf te vragen totdat bekentenissen voldoende tevredenheid bieden. de stadse Wang Er ontkomt niet aan zo’n proces door zijn loszinnige acties, met als voornaamste zonde zijn affaire (hij refereert er zelf eufemistisch aan als ‘epic friendship’) met zijn dokter Cheng Qinyang. zo worden zo onderworpen aan machosistische struggle sessions en andere vernederende methodes die hij op ingenieus geinige wijze beschrijft, maar gelukkig komt hij er zonder kleerscheuren van af, en voordat je het weet is hij jaren ouder en als werkzaam als klungelige en slecht gedisciplineerde biologiedocent op een middelbare school, in een ongemakkelijke relatie met een vrouw die van hem wint met worstelpartijen en ondertussen weer in nauw contact met een vriendinnetje uit zijn jeugd. nog iets later reflecteert hij op de levens van verschillende merkwaardige figuren uit zijn omgeving, waarvan de een zelfmoord pleegde door verdenkingen en beschuldigingen van de CCP (iets waar Wang Er nog altijd bewondering voor heeft door de heldhaftigheid en onuitwisbare spetters brein die het op het schoolplein achterliet), de ander er vandoor gaat met de bloedmooie vrouw op wie hij aanhoudend verliefd was, en zijn buurman Oude Liu die, volgens Wangs vertellingen, de pijp uit is gegaan te wijten aan zijn vraatzuchtigheid. in de basis zijn alle drie de verhalen voornamelijk komisch, luchtig en bijtend, maar tegelijkertijd bieden ze op instapniveau een leuk en overzichtelijk inzicht in verschillende Chinese decennia in de jaren 1900- ik weet de basics, en dit was meer dan prima te volgen. de luie, slonzige Wang worstelt zich alsmaar door zijn tragikomische bestaan heen en dat levert, ondanks zijn relatief saaie en suffe persoonlijkheid en de ernstige tijden waar hij zich in bevindt, een jolig, luchtig en makkelijk leesbaar verhaal op
November 13, 2024
A fiction piece that starts off a little silly, but ends up exploring the human condition through the lens of a someone living through the cultural revolution in the wittiest & funniest of ways.
July 16, 2025
Chinese Catch-22
July 24, 2021
Mi primera impresión con esta novela fue «vaya… así que eso sucedió en esos años». Luego la historia fue tomando un rumbo que me gustó. Es cierto, y entiendo, lo que dicen de hacia donde se dirige la novela, el tema sexual y todo eso. Pero no tienen en cuenta el año en que fue escrito. Piensen un poco más, porfi. No solo se dejen llevar por su primera impresión.
Al menos a mi me ha gustado, y me gustaría leer más de este escritor. Ojalá se de la oportunidad. ❤️
LO MALO:
-Es un poco lenta al principio.
LO BUENO:
-Chen Qingyang.
-El final. Fue como esperaba.
CUESTIONARIO:
•¿Qué dirías sobre la novela?
–Es buena, pero creo que no es para todos.
•¿Con qué personaje te quedas?
–Chen Qingyang.
•¿Lo disfrutaste?
–A medida que avanzaba, sí.
•¿La recomendarías?
–Si solo lees romance y juvenil, no es para ti.
3,3⭐️
Al menos a mi me ha gustado, y me gustaría leer más de este escritor. Ojalá se de la oportunidad. ❤️
LO MALO:
-Es un poco lenta al principio.
LO BUENO:
-Chen Qingyang.
-El final. Fue como esperaba.
CUESTIONARIO:
•¿Qué dirías sobre la novela?
–Es buena, pero creo que no es para todos.
•¿Con qué personaje te quedas?
–Chen Qingyang.
•¿Lo disfrutaste?
–A medida que avanzaba, sí.
•¿La recomendarías?
–Si solo lees romance y juvenil, no es para ti.
3,3⭐️
August 22, 2023
Złote czasy Wanga Era, głównego bohatera a zarazem narratora pierwszoosobowego powieści, przypadły na okres rewolucji kulturalnej. Chińczyk snujący opowieść swojego życia osadzoną w tym burzliwym okresie portretuje nie tylko siebie, lecz całe pokolenie młodzieży z inteligenckich domów podczas oraz po rewolucji, która stanowi mgliste tło opisywanych wydarzeń. Zupełnie unikatowy sposób narracji, wymykający się wszelkim konwencjom uchyla rąbka tajemnicy i pozwala choć na moment wejrzeć w chińską duszę.
February 20, 2022
Tengo que meditar sobre lo que he leído, es una novelista corta que lees de una sentada pero que tiene mucho poso, llena de humor negro nos muestra una mirada a la revolución cultural china, el despropósito y sinsentido que fue.
Estoy segura de que leeré más sobre este autor, al final te hablan de su obra y de su vida, una edición muy cuidada.
Estoy segura de que leeré más sobre este autor, al final te hablan de su obra y de su vida, una edición muy cuidada.
April 21, 2023
Like a Chinese Kurt Vonnegut or "Catch-22"
September 25, 2024
If you are born and raised in the western world there is little chance you will come across or read a book by a Chinise writer or a book related to China. My last and only one before this was The Art of War by Sun Tzu. But Sun Tzu had little to offer in explaining Chinese society and its people. Its main focus was war and how to conduct successful military operations. Fast forward approximately 2,500 years and Wang Xiaobo writes a masterpiece of exceptional prose, hilarity, and profanity. How come I decided to read Golden Age? Two factors contributed to my decision; the appealing book cover of the Penguin Random House edition by Lui Kongxi and the book's comparison with Animal Farm and The Master and Margarita. This I found slightly far fetched. Nevertheless, Golden Years is the reason I will not limit my reading horizons to two Cino-related books.
So what makes this novel so special? This is difficult to pinpoint as most great things in life and in art can't be described. You know one when you see it. Golden Years is one of them. Xiaobo manages to articulate a difficult and painful page in the history of communist China in the most casual and humorous way. The Cultural Revolution had a profound effect to the masses of ordinary Chinese, not withstanding the vast death toll it caused. But for Wang Er it was a period of his youth marked by vigour and anxiety to become a complete man. These golden years are a reference to his years of becoming and physical and mental prosperity of his 20s, the maturity of his 30s, and the realisation of decline of his 40s. Each decade is marked for Wang Er by deep concerns about the past and the future, not so much about the present. "Things that have already happened do not have the potential of ever not happening." His concern and obsession with death is a constant in the novel. It can be read as an implicit reference to the banality of human life in Mao's China. For Wang Er death has a sexual association, as the two are bound by greatness and legacy.
The heart of the novel and its most characteristic side is inadvertently its humour in the most difficult and awkward circumstances. The reader is confronted with the challenging choice of either showing solemnity or bursting in laugher when confronted with a narrative between something profound and philosophical, to something banal, trivial, and somehow inappropriate. "Just because I wasn't happy with my life, I wanted to start a fight with somebody, anybody. If everyone thought that way, we would never get any peace [...] When Old Mr. Liu peed in the bathroom, his urine often ended up on his pants." Xiaobo approaches life with a vulgarity and rawness that transcends the everyday. Wang Er is the essential representation of the youth who is bursting with passion for life, overestimates his wisdom and capabilities to succeed in life, and approaches superficially anything that doesn't seem important. "So once when I asked him: old man, why don't you care about dignity? He replied instantly: don't have the luxury!".
And of course Wang Er is constantly horny in a nonchalant way. His penis becomes the projection and affirmation of his youth. Each decade of his golden years are marked by a woman who is there to satisfy his mental and/or physical state of his being. Chen Qingyang introduces him to care-free and adventurous sex of the early 20s, Little Bicycle Bell experiences with him the grandiose revolutionary ideas and sexual pleasures in familial settings of the late 20s and early 30s, whereas Line becomes the forbidden fruit and obsession of his 40s while signifying his decline.
Vulgarity and human nature is the quintessential element of Golden Years. It shows how human life is a work in progress, how particular periods in history shape and define an individual. Golden Years was published in 1992, a time when China was slowly breaking with its deep communist legacy and was engaging with the capitalist world. It was also the perfect time in Chinese history for such a novel to be accepted, established, and revered.
So what makes this novel so special? This is difficult to pinpoint as most great things in life and in art can't be described. You know one when you see it. Golden Years is one of them. Xiaobo manages to articulate a difficult and painful page in the history of communist China in the most casual and humorous way. The Cultural Revolution had a profound effect to the masses of ordinary Chinese, not withstanding the vast death toll it caused. But for Wang Er it was a period of his youth marked by vigour and anxiety to become a complete man. These golden years are a reference to his years of becoming and physical and mental prosperity of his 20s, the maturity of his 30s, and the realisation of decline of his 40s. Each decade is marked for Wang Er by deep concerns about the past and the future, not so much about the present. "Things that have already happened do not have the potential of ever not happening." His concern and obsession with death is a constant in the novel. It can be read as an implicit reference to the banality of human life in Mao's China. For Wang Er death has a sexual association, as the two are bound by greatness and legacy.
The heart of the novel and its most characteristic side is inadvertently its humour in the most difficult and awkward circumstances. The reader is confronted with the challenging choice of either showing solemnity or bursting in laugher when confronted with a narrative between something profound and philosophical, to something banal, trivial, and somehow inappropriate. "Just because I wasn't happy with my life, I wanted to start a fight with somebody, anybody. If everyone thought that way, we would never get any peace [...] When Old Mr. Liu peed in the bathroom, his urine often ended up on his pants." Xiaobo approaches life with a vulgarity and rawness that transcends the everyday. Wang Er is the essential representation of the youth who is bursting with passion for life, overestimates his wisdom and capabilities to succeed in life, and approaches superficially anything that doesn't seem important. "So once when I asked him: old man, why don't you care about dignity? He replied instantly: don't have the luxury!".
And of course Wang Er is constantly horny in a nonchalant way. His penis becomes the projection and affirmation of his youth. Each decade of his golden years are marked by a woman who is there to satisfy his mental and/or physical state of his being. Chen Qingyang introduces him to care-free and adventurous sex of the early 20s, Little Bicycle Bell experiences with him the grandiose revolutionary ideas and sexual pleasures in familial settings of the late 20s and early 30s, whereas Line becomes the forbidden fruit and obsession of his 40s while signifying his decline.
Vulgarity and human nature is the quintessential element of Golden Years. It shows how human life is a work in progress, how particular periods in history shape and define an individual. Golden Years was published in 1992, a time when China was slowly breaking with its deep communist legacy and was engaging with the capitalist world. It was also the perfect time in Chinese history for such a novel to be accepted, established, and revered.
March 24, 2025
LA EDAD DE ORO
AUTOR: WANG XIAOBO
EDITORIAL: @galaxia_gutenberg
PAGINAS: 132
TRADUCCION: MIGUEL SALA MONTERO
🇨🇳 Entre mis libros de Literatura China tenía esta joya perdida en mi librero que hoy decidí leer. Una lectura breve y profunda enmarcada en el periodo de la Revolución Cultural del Proletariado de 1966 en China en dónde el objetivo principal es mostrar como se sobrevive al día a día después de tantas acusaciones falsas y hostigamiento (esto ocurre en este periodo de la historia china desatado por la violencia provocado por la purga interna del partido)
🇨🇳 Wang Xiaobo escribe este libro en 1991 y relata las desventuradas de Wang Er y Chen Qingyang después de que ellos dos disfrutarán de sus deseos y pasiones carnales. Esto ocurre en Yunnan a las afueras de Pekín los dos "amigos" viven constantes acusaciones publicas y obligados a confesar sus crímenes que simplemente fueron ser amantes (algo que fue mal visto por los militares y la sociedad.) estás acusaciones y humillaciones hicieron mella en los dos protagonistas ya que después de tanto sufrimiento se reencontraron y volverían a disfrutar de su pecado carnal.
🏮 A pesar de que es una historia corta y simple , el tema del sexo está presente en la mayor parte de la historia además se toca el tema de como sobrevivir en un momento histórico tan complejo como lo fue el de la Revolución Cultural y la tensión constante provocada por las acciones arbitrarias en dónde hasta los propios jóvenes fueron enviados a brigadas de trabajo en el campo , nos hacen ver la complejidad que vivió la sociedad china y que en este contexto que vivió el autor , lo uso como parte de su novela para hacer una sutil crítica a ese pasado.
🏮 Es una historia que leí detenidamente por todos los detalles que tiene esas confesiones de los protagonistas por haber cometido el crimen pasional, entras en un encuentro con el pasado y el presente de los mismos y en donde el deseo carnal estuvo presente en todo momento. Es una trama tan cautivante como interesante que vale la pena leerse. ¡Ojalá y pronto traduzcan más historias de este autor!
AUTOR: WANG XIAOBO
EDITORIAL: @galaxia_gutenberg
PAGINAS: 132
TRADUCCION: MIGUEL SALA MONTERO
🇨🇳 Entre mis libros de Literatura China tenía esta joya perdida en mi librero que hoy decidí leer. Una lectura breve y profunda enmarcada en el periodo de la Revolución Cultural del Proletariado de 1966 en China en dónde el objetivo principal es mostrar como se sobrevive al día a día después de tantas acusaciones falsas y hostigamiento (esto ocurre en este periodo de la historia china desatado por la violencia provocado por la purga interna del partido)
🇨🇳 Wang Xiaobo escribe este libro en 1991 y relata las desventuradas de Wang Er y Chen Qingyang después de que ellos dos disfrutarán de sus deseos y pasiones carnales. Esto ocurre en Yunnan a las afueras de Pekín los dos "amigos" viven constantes acusaciones publicas y obligados a confesar sus crímenes que simplemente fueron ser amantes (algo que fue mal visto por los militares y la sociedad.) estás acusaciones y humillaciones hicieron mella en los dos protagonistas ya que después de tanto sufrimiento se reencontraron y volverían a disfrutar de su pecado carnal.
🏮 A pesar de que es una historia corta y simple , el tema del sexo está presente en la mayor parte de la historia además se toca el tema de como sobrevivir en un momento histórico tan complejo como lo fue el de la Revolución Cultural y la tensión constante provocada por las acciones arbitrarias en dónde hasta los propios jóvenes fueron enviados a brigadas de trabajo en el campo , nos hacen ver la complejidad que vivió la sociedad china y que en este contexto que vivió el autor , lo uso como parte de su novela para hacer una sutil crítica a ese pasado.
🏮 Es una historia que leí detenidamente por todos los detalles que tiene esas confesiones de los protagonistas por haber cometido el crimen pasional, entras en un encuentro con el pasado y el presente de los mismos y en donde el deseo carnal estuvo presente en todo momento. Es una trama tan cautivante como interesante que vale la pena leerse. ¡Ojalá y pronto traduzcan más historias de este autor!
June 15, 2024
While I enjoyed having this extremely working class look into China, I think my lack of knowledge on different time periods in the country's history made this a little less engaging for me. If I knew more of the historical and cultural background around the events taking place in 'Golden Age' then I may have got more out of it than I did. Wang Xiaobo is an engaging writer with a distinctive voice but I don't think that voice is necessarily one that I enjoyed.
The humour and satire in 'Golden Age' was amusing at first but quickly got old for me, the constant discussion of sex soon became tiring. As the protagonist Wang Er grew up the tone of the story did change but that playground humour was a continuous thread running throughout the entire novel. I didn't particularly like reading about his relationship to any other character as none of them were very nice. There were moments where I felt for him as some of the experiences that he has are horrible, but his overall characterisation wasn't likeable in my opinion.
Still, I appreciated being able to have a look at a culture extremely different from my own - where every interaction has a consequence to it and nonconformity has serious implications on your life. 'Golden Age' balances having brutal descriptions and events alongside childish, sexual humour. It is sometimes a little jarring but does work a lot of the time, especially if you can find joy in the satire. Rating this book two stars feels a little harsh as I did like it and think it was well written (and on that note, translated) but I can't say I have any desire to ever revisit it. Not for a long time at least.
The humour and satire in 'Golden Age' was amusing at first but quickly got old for me, the constant discussion of sex soon became tiring. As the protagonist Wang Er grew up the tone of the story did change but that playground humour was a continuous thread running throughout the entire novel. I didn't particularly like reading about his relationship to any other character as none of them were very nice. There were moments where I felt for him as some of the experiences that he has are horrible, but his overall characterisation wasn't likeable in my opinion.
Still, I appreciated being able to have a look at a culture extremely different from my own - where every interaction has a consequence to it and nonconformity has serious implications on your life. 'Golden Age' balances having brutal descriptions and events alongside childish, sexual humour. It is sometimes a little jarring but does work a lot of the time, especially if you can find joy in the satire. Rating this book two stars feels a little harsh as I did like it and think it was well written (and on that note, translated) but I can't say I have any desire to ever revisit it. Not for a long time at least.
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