The Chinese writer Fang Fang’s first novel was published in 1982 and for the best ...

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2025-05-02 16:34:58 UTC

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The Chinese writer Fang Fang’s first novel was published in 1982 and for the best part of 40 years, she made her living as a writer, including winning national awards for her work. Then came COVID-19. Her public lockdown diary, “fengcheng riji,” published on her Weibo (microblog) account, became a phenomenon, and made her a target for criticism. She’s been called a liar and a traitor, reprints of her backlist of nearly 100 books have been halted, and her new work is effectively banned from publication in China. The New York Review of Books (npub1j6a…4lm2) reviews “Soft Burial,” her latest novel (translated by Michael Berry), and finds a story about trauma and survival. “I’ve chosen to forget, while you have chosen to leave a record. But once you record what happened, how will I ever be able to forget?” one character says to another. “Meanwhile the novel itself acts as a site, however small, however incomplete, for remembrance,” writes reviewer Madeleine Thien. [Story may be paywalled]

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/05/15/killing-memories-soft-burial-fang-fang/

#Books #Bookstodon bookstodon group (npub1ny7…uv57) #Literature #BookReview #Wuhan #COVID19 #China #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

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2025-05-02 16:34:58 UTC

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