Ge Fei

Author: Ge Fei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-09-01
Features: Ge Fei's short stories are rich in charm, such as "First Love," "Resolution," "Cooling State," "Silence," and "Date at Zizhu Garden," all of which are masterpieces. His medium-length novels, on the other hand, carry more complex meanings, like "Brown Bird Flock," "Jin Se," "Whistle," and "Inlay." These stories revolve around the theme: how many possible destinies can a character have? In fact, these novels repeatedly rewrite the possible encounters of characters, constantly probing which scenarios truly belong to them. For example, "Brown Bird Flock" vaguely contains the stories of four "I"s: First, "I" describes to "Qi" the of following a woman in chestnut-colored boots at a white apartment by the water; second, years later, "I" meets the woman in chestnut-colored boots in a village, but she does not admit to having been in the city at the time; third, the husband of the woman in chestnut-colored boots dies, and "I" marries this woman—but she dies on the wedding day; fourth, years later, "I" meets "Qi" again at the white apartment by the water, but "Qi" claims not to recognize "I." Obviously, these four stories are mutually contradictory; but on what basis do people trust one story and reject the others?