Dancer on the arc

Author: Liang Xiaosheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: It is well-known how Liang Xiaosheng is as a writer. This Is a Magical Land, Tonight There Is a Blizzard, Snow City, and Tree Rings made him the founder of "sent-down youth literature"; Father, Mother, Younger Brother, Mid-Autumn Again, Black Button, and White Hair Pin established him as a representative writer of "family-themed fiction"; while works like Elected, Silence of Rights, Archives, Speaking, and Death of a Scholar are profound middle-length novels that confront reality, proving his unwavering commitment to literary advocacy focused on society—hence the year 1984 being hailed as the "Year of Liang Xiaosheng." Consequently, when a newspaper publicly ranked the "Top Ten Writers Who Touch China," Liang Xiaosheng was included. Thus, he is called the "commoner writer." And so, he is celebrated as the "Balzac of China."
Whether these evaluations are fair or not, and regardless of Liang Xiaosheng's own thoughts—we have no choice but to decide to publish his selected middle-length novels. We also believe that many readers are certainly expecting such a decision to fulfill their desire to understand the full scope of Liang Xiaosheng's middle-length fiction.
When we actually began this task with the author's cooperation, we were indeed surprised—unaware that in two decades, he had written over sixty middle-length novels! In quantity, he is undoubtedly one of the most prolific writers of middle-length fiction in contemporary China. And in terms of subject matter and stylistic diversity, he is truly remarkable. In his middle-length novels, from intellectuals to college students, workers, peasants, police, and criminals, to various female figures across different eras—a vast array of characters form a literary "River Scene at Qingming Festival" depicting Liang Xiaosheng's portrayal of Chinese society.
Or perhaps, when editing these middle-length novels of Liang Xiaosheng, we truly recalled Balzac's La Comédie Humaine.
Liang Xiaosheng once described himself in a creative discussion as a "writer standing on an arc," using the "arc" to symbolize the humanistic quality and stance of literature. Therefore, we have chosen the title Dancers on the Arc for this collection of his middle-length novels—in our view, that "arc" is also composed of the gridlines of manuscript paper. He is one of the few writers in China today who still to write by hand, and the pen is his only dance partner.
On the "arc" formed by the gridlines of manuscript paper, this writer remains tirelessly observing reality, tirelessly dancing—dancing.