Sandbed (A Youthful Confession of Contemporary University Life)

Author: Ge Hongbing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: Shanghai: My Life and Death Party, My Secret Feast, My Cruel Academy. People call him the new generation's handsome writer. People describe him as follows: his confusion and melancholy seem to come from Haruki Murakami, while his deep cruelty seems to stem from the spiritual gift of Milan Kundera. Ge Hongbing is closer to Rousseau. Rich love, profound compassion, and genuine sense of guilt form the main tone of Sand Bed. Perhaps Ge Hongbing is the Chinese writer closest to Rousseau. Following Zhang Zhe's Peach and Plum, another long work that directly confronts the spiritual state of Chinese universities. A tragic love experience; a melancholic life story; a lingering and intoxicating love and death. This is a coming-of-age confession of contemporary university life. Love entangles body taboos, ecstatic joy blends with fear of lust, and the steamy, clinging thoughts of the fox in the feast of youth. The author tells a complex story of desire between a young professor, his students, and multiple lovers through a first-person narrative. With a melancholic touch, the novel delves into sexual relationships such as teacher-student love, group love, and party love, profoundly depicting and boldly exposing the spiritual and life states of contemporary intellectuals and urban youth. Its confused and melancholic youthfulness seems to come from Murakami, while its deep and cold ideology seems to come from Kundera. However, its heavy reflection and sense of repentance make Ge Hongbing closer to Rousseau.