Description
Description
Criminal Lu Yanshi relates the life and times of a Chinese intellectual in the 20th Century. Lu Yanshi, a prodigy from a wealthy Shanghai family, earns a Ph.D. in the United States and sows his wild oats there but cannot escape his stifling social milieu, his overbearing stepmother and his forced marriage to her niece. As war and revolution engulf China, Lu Yanshi speaks out for intellectual integrity and freedom of thought - and pays the price for it in prison and labor camp.While incarcerated, he looks back on his life and realizes that his spurned wife was the true love of his life, and he longs to return to her.
This novel is based on the life experiences of the author's paternal grandfather and maternal step-grandfather. It served as the inspiration for two films by famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou: Coming Home and One Second.
This novel sold over a million copies in its original Chinese edition plus Japanese and Korean translations. The renowned artist Ai Weiwei designed the front cover for this English-language edition.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"Sensuous and disquieting ... a deft exploration of the wondrous and sad inscrutability of the human heart." - New York Times
"Against the backdrop of a China being remade by Chairman Mao, Yan takes a great sweep of history and boils it down to an intensely personal story... At times lyrical and always deeply moving, Yan's grand tale is one to savor." - The Independent
"With simple but powerful prose, Geling Yan evokes electrifying scenes of great cruelty and sensuality." - San Francisco Chronicle
"I have long been a fan of Geling Yan's fiction for its power to disturb us out of our ordinary worlds." - New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan
"Criminal Lu Yanshi is an important milestone in Geling Yan's literary career and a significant achievement in 21st-century Chinese contemporary literature. This epic novel vividly portrays the heavy history of China in the 20th century and the turbulent fate of Chinese intellectuals within the larger historical narrative." - Prof. Chen Sihe, Professor Emeritus of Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai
"In an era when the nation's leaders were calling for a harmonious dream, Geling Yan returned to the scene of Reform through Labor and closely examined its scars, writing a soul-stirring story, while at the same time raising personal and family experiences to the level of allegory." - Prof. David Derwei Wang, Edward D. Henderson Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Harvard University
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
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