Nest of men

This novel, published in 1995 (French translation by Chantal Chen-Andro, Threshold, 2002) constitutes one of the monuments of the contemporary Chinese literature. It describes the animated life of eight young people, who live a traditional dwelling in Venice Chinese, Suzhou (Northern of China). This place is essential, not only by the poetry which the author assigns to him, but also because it is the place of the small dramas which occur, of the joys, of the pleasures which these students know. Throughout the novel, one finds this place, this garden, these parts where each one saw and meets. The destiny of eight young people is upset by the arrival of the Revolution Maoist and the fights between political factions. The intrigue is held between 1945 and 1965. However, it is not a question of a historical novel, even less than one ideological novel (whatever the autobiographical echoes). Remarkable portraitist, Lu Wenfu can remarkably camp his characters, describe scenes envoûtantes (scene in love with chapter XVII), with a remarkable passing on the virtues, the mischievousnesses, the human meannesses. The writer asserts himself like a formidable humorist, very fine, who does not cease echoing the romantic traditions of his country. Behind the picturesque one, it makes vibrate its deep sense of humanity and affirms her refusal of the Manicheism.

Random links: