Here-Zhang Ailing City Map

Author: Chun Zi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-11-01
Features: Shanghai is a city unlike any other; it is not Paris, not Dublin, and it is not famous for literature either. Yet literature is indeed an important cultural landscape of this city. In this landscape, Eileen Chang stands as a tree, pure and aloof. The words here tell the story of a woman's encounter with a city, like a map of the city itself. Holding a book by Eileen Chang and visiting the house where she once lived is like stepping onto a set—where the book serves as the voiceover and the plot, with characters brought vividly to life and finding their place within the narrative. As a writer and radio host, Chun Zi has spent over a decade tracing the footsteps of Eileen Chang in Shanghai, documenting the inseparable bond between her and the city through words and photographs. This book is a collection of essays, rich in emotion, and is entirely a personal expression of Chun Zi's writing. Because she is not a product of academia, she is free from its rigid constraints, and in Here—Eileen Chang's City Map, she writes with her exquisite yet slightly melancholic prose, pouring out her research, reflections, and imaginative musings. Chun Zi grew up in Shanghai from a young age, harboring a deep affection for the city, especially its past. This intense "nostalgia" is clearly reflected in Here—Eileen Chang's City Map. Perhaps it can be said that Chun Zi spent years painstakingly pursuing the Eileen Chang she envisioned. Through this book, she expresses her profound love for Eileen Chang while also conveying her longing for Shanghai.