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• New novel from Eileen Chang!!! 張愛玲新作!!!

  Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009 4:23AM / Standard Entry / Members only
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  "人性是最有趣的書，一生一世看不完。"  -------- 張愛玲
  
  "Human nature is the most interesting book that can never be finish in a lifetime."  
                                                                                                                   -------- Eileen Chang
  
  Indeed, and the same goes for Eileen Chang's writings, precisely because human nature is the canvas and paintbrush of her art. Never can one find flat characters in Chang's novels, they are all propelled by the same contradictions and self-deceptiveness that are common in all of us when we strive to live our lives.
  
  Some find her work melodramatic and pessimistic, but none can deny the fact that she is one of the most important and beloved writer to have emerged from China's long literary history.
  
  I have no desire, and certainly is not articulate enough, to write about Eileen Chang and her work. As a huge fan of her work, however, hearing about the arrival of her new novel on Feb 22nd is already making me itch all over. So consider this a scratch on where it itches.
  
  I say excited, but that comes with a sense of shame. This book, according to Chang's last will, is not intended to be publish but to be destroyed when she passed away in 1995. According to the sales pitch from the publisher, this is Chang's semi-autobiographical story of her relationship with the writer and WWII Japanese collaborator Hu Lancheng (胡蘭成), a love affair which one can also find resemblances in Lust, Caution. So this is, as they say, her side of the story. Again, voyeurism always sales...
  
  Soong Yee Lon (宋以朗) inhereted the legal right to administrator Chang's work from his parents, the great scholar Soong Kei (宋淇) and Kwong Mun Mei (鄺文美), who were close friends and supporter of Eileen Chang. His decision to release this book will surely be both admire and criticize by many, but ask this question before you make a judgement: what would the world be if Max Brod did not publish Kafka's work against his will?
  
  I'm not taking side, i'm just damn happy to be able to read Chang's new novel in less than a week. Even if this is against her wish. And there are news that two of her novels written in English will also be available later on this year. This must be an ailing period for Eileen Chang in her grave, but 2009 turns out to be a great year for us Chang Fans...
  
  Read. Learn. and Play.
  
  D....
  
  

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