King Goujian of Yue - (Upper and Lower Parts)

Author: Zhang Jing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: This book, ranging from historical drama to historical fiction, maintains its content and style without any loss in the text. Reading Zhang Jing's historical novels, the spaces between the lines still offer ample room for imagination, and one can occasionally savor his descriptions—I recall the "Iceberg" theory of the American writer Ernest Hemingway. He used the iceberg as a metaphor for character portrayal, stating, "An iceberg moves majestically and grandly in the sea because only one-eighth of it is visible above water." He advocated that seven-eighths of a writer's thoughts and emotions are contained beneath the surface of the image. Although Zhang Jing's historical dramas or novels are epic-length works, his portrayal of characters reduces the dazzling to the serene, simplifies the complex to the simple, and finds beauty in conciseness and appropriateness—very much in the spirit of the "Iceberg" theory. In recent years, I have developed an interest in ancient Chinese history, starting from the Spring and Autumn Period and now reading through the late Warring States Period. At sixty-five, my life seems to have rejuvenated once again, and I truly owe this to Zhang Jing's national work—The King of Yue: Goujian.