From Kafka to Kundera

Author: Wu Xiaodong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: This book is compiled based on the lecture notes of the course "Selected Readings in 20th Century Foreign Modernist Fiction" offered at Peking University. The spontaneous remarks and insightful discussions during the lectures add a touch of charm and emotional warmth to the book, complementing its rigorous and academic research style. For those familiar with or fond of certain novels and novelists, hearing Dr. Wu Xiaodong's perspectives on them might be a delightful "revisit of old dreams." Looking back at the recently passed 20th-century literature, labeling it as classic may be premature. However, the nine novelists promoted by Wu Xiaodong on the lecture stage—from Kafka to Kundera—undoubtedly deserve the title of masters. The nine works he selected for interpretation and analysis in class have already or will eventually be proven immortal. Thus, Dr. Wu Xiaodong's discerning research on the novelists he admires and his unique interpretation of the works he appreciates serve as a review and assessment of 20th-century modernist literature. Although the author does not intend to create a contract for the history of the novel, his broad perspective helps us gain a comprehensive understanding and grasp of the literary context of the past century. This, in turn, allows us to appreciate the profound influence of this "most complex century in human history" on novelists and the novel form, as well as why 20th-century novels made readers feel that "reading is no longer a pastime or enjoyment; reading has become a serious, even painful ritual."