Yu Hua · Brothers (Part 1)

Author: Yu Hua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Ten years of grinding a sword, Yu Hua is back. Ten years, for a writer, is not just a concept of time! It's more of a pressure, a nameless and indescribable hardship! After being away from the literary world for many years, at the readers' clamoring call, today, Yu Hua has finally returned to the literary scene with his new masterpiece, the long《Brothers》, reminiscent of the past, as the leader of the avant-garde movement, Yu Hua swept away the loneliness of the literary world, bringing readers a series of fine novels. The widely praised 《To Live》 is still shaking a new generation of readers, its brutal depiction of suffering reaching the depths of the soul. Yu Hua created a peak in the history of fiction. Since the 1990s, few novels have matched 《To Live》 in influence. Many readers finished 《To Live》 with tears in their eyes, oppressed by pain. The same-titled film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Ge You also won numerous awards in the international film industry. In an exclusive interview with 《Beijing News》, Yu Hua frankly shared his creative journey over the past decade. The writer particularly emphasized the narrative intensity and the prominent detailed description in his new work 《Brothers》, compared to his earlier works, 《Brothers》 has less oppression and a touch more warmth! Yu Hua claims that the writing style of this work has a "Dickensian" flavor, with both cruelty and warmth coexisting. Ten years after the publication of 《Chronicle of a Blood Merchant》, Yu Hua has finally returned with his new long《Brothers》. In the afterword, Yu Hua frankly admits: Initially, my idea was a novel of about 100,000 words, but the narrative took over my writing, and the length exceeded 400,000 words. Writing is truly magical—starting narrow often leads to breadth, while starting broad 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. Yu Hua introduces that the initial idea was simply to restore his ability to write novels through a 100,000-word long, but the first part ended up being 180,000 words, and the second part has already exceeded 200,000 words. For Yu Hua, who is skilled at controlling the rhythm, this writing process seems somewhat "abnormal." Yu Hua frankly admits, "I lost control while writing 《Brothers》. Because our reality and history influenced my writing." The second half of 《Brothers》 will be published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House next year.