Brother (Down)

Author: Yu Hua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Five years ago, I began writing an endless novel, a narrative of a century. In August 2003, I went to the United States and traveled around the East for seven months. When I returned to Beijing, I found myself losing the desire for a long narrative, and then I started writing Brothers. This is a novel born from the meeting of two eras. The first is a story from the Cultural Revolution, an era of spiritual fervor, suppressed instincts, and tragic fate, comparable to medieval Europe. The second is the story of the present, an era of ethical upheaval, indulgence, and a myriad of human experiences, even more extreme than today's Europe. The turbulent changes of a hundred years in the West are condensed into forty years. This is a precious experience. The bond connecting these two eras is these two brothers. Their lives shatter in shattering, their joys explode in explosion, and their fates, like those of the two eras, are turned upside down. Ultimately, they must bear the fruits of their enmity. At first, my plan was for a novel of about ten thousand words, but narration took over my writing, and the length exceeded half a million words. Writing is truly magical—starting from narrowness often leads to breadth, while starting from breadth can lead to narrowness. This is just like life. Those who start on a wide road often find themselves at a dead end, while those who start on a narrow path can reach distant horizons. That's why Jesus said, "You must enter through the narrow gate." He warns us. "Because the gate to destruction is wide and the way is broad, and many enter through it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way is small, and those who find it are few." I believe that whether it's writing or life, the right starting point is to enter through the narrow gate. Don't be deceived by the wide gate, for the road inside isn't very long.