Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress
By: Dai Sijie ; translated from the French by Ina Rilke
Contributors: Rilke, Ina
Edition: Proprietary Edition.
Publisher: Alfred A.Knopf
Published: 2001
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 184
ISBN-13: 9780385365475
Subjects: Prohibited books; Fiction; Man-woman relationships; History; Political fiction
Work titles: Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise
Description: At the height of Mao's infamous Cultural Revolution, two boys are among hundreds of thousands exiled to the countryside for "re-education." The narrator and his best friend, Luo, guilty of being the sons of doctors, find themselves in a remote village where, among the peasants of Phoenix mountain, they are made to cart buckets of excrement up and down precipitous winding paths. Their meager distractions include a violin--as well as, before long, the beautiful daughter of the local tailor. But it is when the two discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation that their re-education takes its most surprising turn. While ingeniously concealing their forbidden treasure, the boys find transit to worlds they had thought lost forever. And after listening to their dangerously seductive retellings of Balzac, even the Little Seamstress will be forever transformed.