Tong Su Libri

Hua Jindou, morto suicida in seguito al suicidio della moglie, è uno "spirito senza pace". Per un "disguido burocratico" si trova senza il numero di matricola che permette il definitivo accesso al Paradiso o all'Inferno. Così, nel frattempo, cerca almeno di seguire dal cielo le vicende drammatiche e insieme grottesche dei suoi cari: la sorella e i cinque figli, quattro femmine e un maschio, investiti di tutte le responsabilità e le aspettative legate alla discendenza familiare. Un aborto che si conclude tragicamente, un'impiccagione simulata che lascia paralizzato uno dei personaggi, l'amara scoperta dell'omosessualità del figlio, vagabondaggi e incontri celesti, giudici, prigioni divine e terrene. E, ancora, vecchie pettegole, superstizioni, odi, liti e voci di una via della grande città, in un continuo rimando e confronto tra l'aldilà e il mondo terreno che si rivelano in fondo molto simili. Con Spiriti senza pace Su Tong si concentra sulla vita di una famiglia operaia e cittadina degli anni Ottanta e ne segue la tragica, lenta dissoluzione manifestando però un senso di partecipazione insieme ironica e affettuosa, un manifesto disprezzo per il conservatorismo e il tradizionalismo ancora fortemente radicati nella cultura cinese e il rigetto della funzione "morale ed educatrice" della letteratura.

"Disgraced Secretary Ku writes letters every day asking for a reprieve. He was banished from the Party when it was discovered he does not have a fish-shaped birthmark on his bottom and is therefore not the son of the revolutionary martyr Deng Siopang, but the issue of a river pirate and a prostitute. Mocked by the citizens of Milltown, Secretary Ku leaves the shore for a new life among the boat people on a fleet of industrial barges during the boom time under Chairman Mao. Refusing to renounce his status as a Party official, he maintains a distance - with Dongliang, his teenage son - from the gossipy lowlifes who populate the barges of the Golden Sparrow River. One day a feral little girl, Huixan, arrives looking for her mother, who has jumped to her death in the river. The boat people, and especially Dongliang, take her to their hearts. But Huixan sows conflict wherever she goes, and soon Dongliang is in the grip of an obsession for her. He takes on Life, Fate and the Party in the only way he knows"--Hardcover book jacket

Exploring the eerie side of small-town existence, this collection features ten tales that blend dark humor with surreal elements. From a scheme involving a Madonna impersonator to a fatal dispute over a watermelon, the stories capture the complexities of human nature through a lens of cruelty and kindness. Su Tong's unique narrative style creates a nightmarish yet lyrical atmosphere, revealing the bizarre intricacies of everyday life.

The brutal realities of the dark places Su Tong depicts in this collection of novellas set in 1930s provincial China -- worlds of prostitution, poverty, and drug addiction -- belie his prose of stunning and simplebeauty. The title novella, "Raise the Red Lantern," which became a critically acclaimed film, tells the story of Lotus, a young woman whose father's suicide forces her to become the concubine of a wealthy merchant. Crushed by loneliness, despair, and cruel treatment, Lotus finds her descent into insanity both a weapon and a refuge. "Nineteen Thirty-Four Escapes" is an account of a family's struggles during one momentous year; plagued by disease, death, and the shady promise of life in a larger town, the family slowly disintegrates. Finally, "Opium Family" details the last years of a landowning clan whose demise is brought about by corruption, lust, and treachery -- fruits of the insidious crop they harvest.

China's uniquely long history has been characterised as the embodiment of wise stewardship and an adherence to Confucian principles of humanity. My Life as Emperor tells the real story of incompetence, cruelty, decadence and an absence of concern for anyone's well-being but those holding power. It is a chilling yet enormously entertaining glimpse of the dark side of nation-building, as well as a vivid insight into the lives of the palace women and the surrounding court intrigue richly embroidered with extraordinary calamities and rampant slaughter.

Durch Brudermord und Betrug ist Liu Laoxia zum reichsten Großgrundbesitzer der Gegend und Herrscher über das südchinesische Dorf Fengyang aufgestiegen, doch er ist unfähig, gesunde männliche Nachkommen zu zeugen. Von seinen fünf Söhnen kamen vier mißgebildet zur Welt, nur der fünfte, Yanyi, ein Idiot, durfte überleben. Die Bauern erzählen sich, dies sei die Strafe dafür, daß Liu Laoxia fast alle Mädchen des Dorfes geschändet und seinen eigenen Vater ermordet habe, um dessen Konkubine zu seiner Ehefrau zu machen. §Erst mit der Geburt des sechsten Kindes, Chancao, dessen leiblicher Vater der Vorarbeiter Chan Mao, der Liebhaber von Liu Laoxias Frau, ist, scheint die Generationenfolge gesichert zu sein. Im Alter von zwanzig Jahren übernimmt Chancao das Gut. Doch schon längst hat der durchdringende süße Duft des Schlafmohns von ihm Besitz genommen, Längst ist er opiumsüchtig, verweichlicht und nicht in der Lage, das Gut allein zu verwalten...

Der Mythos von der treuen Meng wird in China seit etwa 2000 Jahren erzählt, Su Tong nennt die bemerkenswerte Frau in seiner Geschichte Binu. Binus Mann wurde zum Bau der Großen Mauer eingezogen und sie nimmt nun eine Odyssee auf sich, um ihm warme Kleidung für den Winter zu bringen. Auf ihrer Reise zur Großen Mauer gerät Binu in die absonderlichsten Abenteuer, etwa mit blinden Fröschen und Hirschmenschen, aus denen sie ihr nicht endender Tränenfluss immer wieder errettet. Der fünfte Band der Mythenreihe im dtv.