The Story of Hulan River · March in the Small Town (Classic Collection)

Author: Xiao Hong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-17
Features: Xiao Hong's works deliberately blur the boundaries between prose and fiction. The retreat of concepts brings about a full restoration of literary intuition, while the repetitive sentences are filled with poetry and a sense of retrospect. This book selects works that fully express Xiao Hong's feelings and thoughts, including The Story of Hulan River, Hands, On the Ox Cart, March in a Small Town, and Reminiscences of Mr. Lu Xun.
Excerpt from The Story of Hulan River:
When the severe winters the earth, the earth is full of cracks. From south to north, from east to west, they range from a few feet to over ten feet long, with no direction, and at any time, as long as the severe winter arrives, the earth cracks open. The extreme cold freezes the earth. The elderly, upon entering their homes, sweep ice drips from their beards with a broom, saying, "It's so cold today! The ground has cracked." The carriage drivers, with three stars shining above them, whip their horses for sixty or seventy miles around with large whips. As soon as dawn breaks, they enter the carriage inn and say to the innkeeper in a single sentence, "What a fierce day! Sharp as a knife." After entering the inn, they take off their dogskin hats, smoke a pack of cigarettes, and then reach out for warm buns. Their hands, exposed to the cold, are covered with countless cracks. Human hands are frozen and cracked...