By Night - Annotated Edition

Author: Jia Pingwa (Author), Chen Ze (Commentator)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: White Night is a work very close to reality, depicting the real-life scenes of Xijing in the 1990s. The characters in the book come from various social strata, including high-ranking administrative leaders of the city, other officials who are either successful or frustrated; long-time urban residents who rise and fall in the business world based on property conditions; migrant workers and vegetable vendors who have come to the city from the countryside to make their way in the world; archaeologists, police officers, actors, paper-cutting artists, fashion models; nouveau riche, elderly people, descendants of aristocrats, and so on. The novel uses simple yet vivid language to weave through the various scenes and corners of life in Xijing, recreating the survival states, desires, and pursuits of these characters, as well as their hatred, love, betrayal, and mutual help. There is the tragic love between a roamer and a noblewoman, the wandering activities of a ghost theater troupe, the manipulations in the official circles, the gambling and humor in the slums. White Night, while primarily employing realistic brushstrokes, is also richly tinged with elements of the magical. Examples include the rebirth and subsequent death of a resurrected person; the peculiar premonitions of an elderly paper-cutting artist; a ghostly key that causes someone to suffer an incurable night-walking disorder; and the feminization and silkworm transformation of a disgraced official after a stroke. Especially the mysterious and enigmatic performance of the ghost theater, which blurs the lines between the human and the divine, casts a thick, pervasive sense of mystery over real life and also evokes metaphysical reflections on the yin and yang of the universe. The title of this book itself reveals the author's intention to bridge the worlds of yin and yang. The staging of the ghost theater and the lively drama of human life make one feel the vivid worldly humanity of the ghost world, as well as the treacherous and ghostly characteristics of human society. The things and activities carried out by people in the dark can be seen as clearly as in the daytime, while some actions that take place in broad daylight can be as unrestrained as those in the dark.