Sky One Language

Author: Cheng Baoyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: A recipient of three prestigious awards—the French Femina Literature Award, the Honorary Knight Cross, and the Literary Grand Prize from the French Academy of Letters—Cheng Baoyi, a French Academy Fellow and a Chinese-American writer, presents his classic work. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who have read A Single Word and have been deeply moved by it, and those who have not yet read it but are about to do so. A Single Word achieves universal appeal yet reads like a detective novel. The novel, published in France in September 1998, has secured translation rights in nine countries. The story follows the protagonist Tianyi's struggles in his youth between the spiritual and the love, love and desire, his lonely and sorrowful drift in Paris, and the hardships and pains he endures upon returning to his homeland. These three experiences are interwoven with the depiction of Tianyi's life-and-death bond, a tripartite friendship and love with Hao Lang and Yu Mei, forming a tragic legend of a cultural wanderer. The entire work is divided into three parts—"The Epic of Departure," "The Journey of Transformation," and "The Myth of Return"—corresponding to the three experiences, written with grandeur. It embodies the essence of outstanding French culture through the heart of a traditional Chinese intellectual, with profound meaning and delicate charm, as if immersing the reader in the Yangtze River and experiencing a spiritual and physical cleansing. The translator's profound skills in translation convey the meaning and emotion with elegant Chinese, truly a harmonious blend of authorship and translation.