Family -- Illustrated Edition (Complete Revised Illustrated Edition)

Author: Zhang Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: Family is another masterpiece completed by Zhang Wei after The Ancient Ship. Here, the author boldly explores new territory, showcasing his literary prowess. The entire work resembles a long prose poem, akin to a scroll composed of consecutive colorful paintings. It is written for those who care about the past and future of the nation, and throughout the book runs a capitalized "Love." The author writes with a tone of "sorrow without injury, resentment without anger," and what flows between the lines is pure humanity—this is the inexhaustible source of inspiration for Zhang Wei forever. —Wen Jieruo, Editor-in-Chief of the People's Literature Publishing House
Although Family narrates a historical and contemporary interwoven family story with elegant prose, it is a book with strong combativeness. It uses literary imagery to depict the war between two "families" with different spiritual traditions: One type of "family" consists of people who relentlessly pursue truth, constantly experiencing the spiritual journey of experimentation, failure, and reexperimentation. Prometheus-like heroes are their idols; the other type of "family" focuses solely on practical and materialistic pursuits, chasing wealth and the right to dominate it, taking pride in day-to-day manipulation of power, intrigue, and factionalism. Family is precisely such a modern apocalypse intertwining the outcomes of the war between these two "families," as well as the choices, failures, destruction, and rebirth experienced by intellectuals in this multi-layered, complex conflict.